Final answer:
The lute is a stringed instrument, categorized as a chordophone, which was commonly used in medieval music.
Step-by-step explanation:
The lute is a type of stringed instrument. It is part of a family of musical instruments that were widely used in medieval music, alongside others such as the mandore, gittern, and psaltery. The lute features characteristics similar to those of other stringed instruments like guitars: it produces sound by the vibration of strings stretched between two points. In ethnomusicology, the study of music in world cultures, the lute is classified as a chordophone, which is a category for stringed instruments.
Chordophones, like the lute and the guitar, generate sound through the vibration of their strings, which are bound at both ends. Unlike wind instruments, which are classified as aerophones, or percussion instruments with membranes like drums, which are membranophones, the distinguishing feature of chordophones is the use of strings to produce musical sounds.