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[[Image:Harpsichord.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Keyboard of a harpsichord]]
The '''harpsichord''' represents the highest development of the plucked string family of keyboard instruments. Like the [[virginal]] and [[spinet]] it consists of a set of strings within a soundbox which are activated by a keyboard attached to a series of wooden “jacks”. When a key is depressed it raises the jack on which there is a leather plectrum, or “quill”, which hits the appropriate strings. There is a mechanism to stop the quill hitting the strings on the way back down.
The '''harpsichord''' represents the highest development of the plucked string family of keyboard instruments. Like the [[virginal]] and [[spinet]] it consists of a set of strings within a soundbox which are activated by a keyboard attached to a series of wooden “jacks”. When a key is depressed it raises the jack on which there is a leather plectrum, or “quill”, which hits the appropriate strings. There is a mechanism to stop the quill hitting the strings on the way back down.