'banjo' originates from West African languages (via Kimbundu/other Bantu languages), specifically the word 'mbanza'/'banza', where 'mbanza/banza' meant 'a stringed instrument'.

'banjo' changed from African words like 'mbanza'/'banza' and appeared in English via Atlantic colonial contact and dialectal forms such as 'banjar' or 'banjer' in the 17th–18th centuries, eventually becoming the modern English word 'banjo'.

Initially, it meant 'African lute or stringed instrument', but over time it evolved into its current meaning of 'a small round-bodied stringed instrument used in folk, country, and bluegrass music'.