accordion

English

Wikipedia

A piano accordion

Etymology

• First attested in 1831.

From German Akkordion, from Akkord (“harmony”), from French accord, from Old French acorder, based on Italian accordare (“to tune”). See also accord.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /əˈkɔ(ɹ).di.ˌən/
• (US) IPA: /ə.ˈkɔɹ.di.ən/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ac‧cord‧i‧on

Noun

accordion (plural accordions)

1. A small, portable, keyed wind instrument, whose tones are generated by play of the wind from a squeezed bellows upon free metallic reeds.
   • 1869, Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad:

     A disreputable accordion that had a leak somewhere and breathed louder than it squawked.

   • Ambrose Bierce, Devil’s Dictionary:

     Accordion: an instrument in harmony with the sentiments of an assassin.

Synonyms

• squeezebox

Derived terms

• accordionist
• button accordion
• piano accordion
• accordion file

Translations

A small, portable, keyed wind instrument

• Afrikaans: akkordeon; trekklavier
• Albanian: fizarmonikë f
• Arabic: أكورديون (ar) (ʾakurdiyūn) m
• Armenian: ակորդեոն (hy) (akordeon)
• Basque: akordeoi; eskusoinu
• Belarusian: акардэон (be) (akardeón) m
• Breton: akordeon m
• Bulgarian: хармоника (bg) (harmónika) f, акордеон (bg) (akordeón) m
• Catalan: acordió m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 手風琴 (cmn), 手风琴 (cmn) (shǒufēngqín)

• Czech: akordeon (cs), harmonika (cs)
• Danish: trækharmonika (da), harmonika (da), akkordeon (da) (with free-bass system)
• Dutch: accordeon (nl) n, harmonica (nl) m
• Esperanto: akordiono (eo)
• Estonian: akordion; lõõtspill
• Finnish: harmonikka (fi), haitari (fi), hanuri (fi)
• French: accordéon (fr) m
• German: Akkordeon (de) n, Ziehharmonika (de) f, Handharmonika (de) f, Handorgel (de) f, (regional) Quetsche (de) f, (slangy, humorous) Quetschkommode (de) f, Schifferklavier (de) n
• Greek: ακορντεόν (el) (akordeón) n
• Hindi: अकॉर्डियन (hi) (akorḍiyan)
• Hungarian: harmonika (hu), tangóharmonika (hu)
• Ido: akordeono (io)
• Indonesian: akordeon (id)
• Interlingua: accordion
• Irish: cairdín m

• Italian: fisarmonica (it) f
• Japanese: アコーデオン (ja) (akōdeon), 手風琴 (ja) (てふうきん, tefūkin)
• Jèrriais: accordéon m
• Korean: 아코디언 (ko) (akodieon)
• Latin: accordio f (accordionis, genitive)
• Macedonian: армоника (mk) (armónika) f, хармоника (mk) (harmónika) f, акордеон (mk) (akordeón)
• Manx: coardeen (gv) m
• Norwegian: trekkspill (no)
• Persian: آکوردئون (fa) (âkordi'on)
• Polish: akordeon m, harmonia ręczna f
• Portuguese: acordeão (pt)
• Russian: гармоника (ru) (garmónika) f, гармонь (ru) (garmón’) f, аккордеон (ru) (akkordeón) m, баян (ru) (baján) m
• Scottish Gaelic: bogsa-ciùil m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хармоника (sh) f

  Roman: harmonika (sh) f

• Slovak: harmonika (sk) f
• Slovene: harmonika (sl) f
• Spanish: acordeón (es) m
• Swahili: kodiani (sw), harimuni (sw)
• Swedish: dragspel (sv) n, ackordeon (sv)
• Turkish: akordiyon (tr)
• Ukrainian: акордеон (uk) (akordeón) m, гармонія (uk) (harmónija) f
• Vietnamese: phong cầm (vi)
• Volapük: tiraharmonöm (vo)

See also

• bandoneon
• concertina

Adjective

accordion (not comparable)

1. Pleated, or folded like a bellows from an accordion.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:

     An accordion underskirt of blue silk moirette.

Verb

accordion (third-person singular simple present accordions, present participle accordioning, simple past and past participle accordioned)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To fold up, in the manner of an accordion
   • 2000 December 29, Charles Dickinson, “Qi”, Chicago Reader:

     Still in reverse, she goosed the gas and accordioned the running board a fraction of an inch more.

   • 2005, Cory Doctorow, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town^[1]:

     It accordioned down and he tugged the shirt around it so that it came free […] .