karaoke

Etymology

It is borrowed from Japanese カラオケ (karaoke),^[2][3][4][1] formed from 空 (kara, “empty, void”) and オケ (oke), short for オーケストラ (ōkesutora, “orchestra”),^{[2][5][4][6][1]} a Japanese rendering of the English word orchestra.^[3][6][2] It means literally "empty orchestra".^[7][6][8] The same kara is in karate, literally "empty hand".^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A form of entertainment in which a person sings the vocal part of a popular song to a pre-recorded backing track: 1977, in the Japan Times.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date it to 1979.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Ayto explains the name by the idea of an accompaniment waiting to be filled by a singer.^[6] Karaoke was invented in Japan and was very popular with Japanese businessmen in bars on the way home from work; it reached the United States and Britain in the 1980s.^[8] In 1983 Time reported karaoke sets as a device about to be exported to the United States, and in 1985 that thousands of Americans were singing in public with it.^[9] The word is often used attributively, in karaoke bar, karaoke club and karaoke machine.^[8][10]

Timeline

• 1977 – first record, in the Japan Times.^[2]
• 1979 – date given by Etymonline and Merriam-Webster.^[3][4]
• 1983 – a karaoke machine, in Time.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A form of entertainment in which people take turns singing popular songs over a recorded accompaniment, usually reading the words from a screen: We ended the evening with karaoke.^[10][4][2]
2. A machine that plays such accompaniments for a singer, often recording the singer's voice with the music.^[4][8][9]

Related words

• karate
• orchestra

Usage notes

Because the two vowels where kara and oke meet are hard for English speakers to say, some change the first of them to the vowel of kit.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e Knowles, Elizabeth; Elliott, Julia, eds. (1997), The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Evans, Tom (1997), A Dictionary of Japanese Loanwords, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins