karaoke

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A form of entertainment in which people sing popular songs along with recorded music while reading the words on a screen.

   We sang karaoke at the bar until midnight.

Simplified etymology

Karaoke entered English from Japanese in the late 20th century. It literally means “empty orchestra.”

Etymology tree Japanese 空 Ancient Greek ὀρχέομαι (orkhéomai) Ancient Greek -τρᾰ (-tră) Ancient Greek ὀρχήστρα (orkhḗstra)bor. Latin orchēstrabor. English orchestrabor. Japanese オーケストラ Japanese カラオケbor. English karaoke Borrowed from Japanese カラオケ (karaoke), from 空(から) (kara, “empty”) + オケ (oke, “orchestra”), a clipping of オーケストラ (ōkesutora), from English orchestra.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary