Stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are plucked to produce sound. It was developed in Europe in the 14th or 15th century and was widely used from the 16th to the early 19th century, when it was superseded by the piano.

Construction and Mechanism
The harpsichord usually has a wing-shaped body like a grand piano; however, its proportions are narrower and longer, and the body and its inner bracing are normally lighter. For each string a small piece of material, or plectrum, is set in a thin slip of wood, or jack, that rests internally on the far end of the key. When the front of the key is depressed, the far end rises, and the plectrum plucks the string. Although the volume and tone of the sound produced by the plucking mechanism remain constant regardless of the forcefulness of the keystroke, many harpsichords have registers that allow for moving jacks slightly out of reach of the strings, thus making possible different volumes and combinations of tone colors.

History and Developments
A school of harpsichord building developed in Italy in the 16th and 17th centuries, and another formed slightly later in Flanders. These schools gave way in the 18th century to distinctive styles of building in France, Germany, and England. In the 20th century two broad approaches to harpsichord building emerged. The first used recent principles of construction, such as those found in present-day pianos. Other builders sought to relearn historical principles in an effort to duplicate the sound of the original instruments.