The Jew's harp, jaw harp, or mouth harp is thought to be one of the oldest musical instruments in the world; a musician apparently playing it can be seen in a Chinese drawing from the 3rd century BCE [1]. It is also sometimes called a Jew's trump or juice harp, among other names, and has no particular connection with Judaism.

As with the parallel example "jew's ear" for the jelly fungus Auricularia auricula-judae, the name's semitic reference is controversial and is avoided by many speakers, giving rise to various alternative terms. Another name used to identify the instrument, especially in scholarly literature, is the older English trump, while guimbarde, derived from the French word for the instrument, also features in unabridged dictionaries and recent revival efforts.

The instrument is a lamellaphone, which is in the category of plucked idiophones: it consists of a flexible metal or bamboo tongue attached to a frame. This tongue is placed in the performer's mouth and plucked with the finger to produce a note. The frame is held against the performer's teeth or lips, using the jaw (thus "jaw harp") and mouth as a resonator, greatly increasing the volume of the instrument. The note thus produced is constant in pitch, though by changing the shape of his or her mouth and the amount of air contained in it the performer can cause different overtones to sound and thus create melodies.

The instrument is known in many different cultures by at least forty different names. Since trances are facilitated by droning sounds, the Jew's harp has been associated with magic and has been a common instrument in shamanic rituals from '"wikipedia"