karaoke

See also: Karaoke, karaoké, and karaokê

English

Karaoke in an Irish pub

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese カラオケ (karaoke), from 空 (kara, “empty”) + オケ (oke, “orchestra”), an abbreviation of オーケストラ (ōkesutora), from English orchestra.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæ.ɹiˌəʊ.ki/, /ˈkæ.ɹəˌəʊ.ki/ (anglicized)
• (US) enPR: kâ'rē-ōʹkē, IPA^(key): /ˌkæ.ɹiˈoʊ.ki/
• (emulating Japanese) enPR: kä-rä-ō'kā, IPA^(key): /kɑːɹɑːˌokeɪ/

Pronounced both emulating Japanese (pure [ɑː] vowels, terminal [e̞], approximated by [ɛ] or [eɪ]), and, more commonly, in anglicized form ([æ] diphthong, terminal [iː]). Compare pronunciation of end of karate, which has undergone the same sound change, and of bokeh, which has not, as reflected in the spelling.

Noun

karaoke (countable and uncountable, plural karaokes)

1. (uncountable) A form of entertainment popular in clubs, at parties, etc, in which individual members of the public sing along to pre-recorded instrumental versions of popular songs, the lyrics of which are displayed for the singer on a screen in time with the music.
   • 1993 March, Wagner, Michael J.; Brick, John S., “Using Karaoke in the Classroom”, in Music Educators Journal, volume 79, number 7, ISSN 0027-4321, JSTOR 3398617, page 44:

     The karaoke has been well received by those who frequent the oriental cabaret scene and adopt its particular social behaviors such as conversation, companionship, being seen, and showing off.

   • 2006 February 24, Bill Maher, Real Time with Bill Maher, season 7, episode 2:

     American Idol will always have a place in my heart. It's where I met Clay. And what could be more exciting than televised karaoke?

   • 2008 December 9, Raftery, Brian, Don't Stop Believin': How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life, Cambridge: Da Capo Press, →ISBN, LCCN 2008034271, OCLC 191926214, OL 17073509M, page 1:

     I was always split on Henley. Then I found out that he doesn’t want people to sing his songs at karaoke. In fact, Henley actually forbids karaoke companies from rerecording songs in his catalog.

2. (countable) A karaoke session.

Derived terms

• karaoke bar
• karaoke box
• karaoke club
• karaoke lounge
• karaoke machine
• karaoke parlour
• videoke

 

Translations

a form of entertainment

• Albanian: karaoke
• Arabic: كَارَيُوكِي‎ m (kārayōkē)
• Armenian: կարաոկե (hy) (karaoke)
• Azerbaijani: karaoke
• Belarusian: карао́ке n (karaókje)
• Bengali: কারাওকে (karaoke)
• Bulgarian: карао́ке n (karaóke)
• Burmese: ကာရာအိုကေ (karauike)
• Catalan: karaoke (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卡拉OK (zh) (kǎlā'ōukèi)

• Czech: karaoke n
• Danish: karaoke
• Dutch: karaoke (nl)
• Esperanto: karaoko
• Estonian: karaoke (et)
• Finnish: karaoke (fi)
• French: karaoké (fr) m
• Georgian: კარაოკე (ḳaraoḳe)
• German: Karaoke (de) n
• Greek: καραόκε (karaóke)
• Hebrew: קַרְיוֹקִי‎ (he) m (karaoke)
• Hindi: कराओके m (karāoke)
• Hungarian: karaoke (hu)
• Icelandic: karaoke
• Indonesian: karaoke (id)
• Japanese: カラオケ (ja) (karaoke)
• Kannada: ಕರೋಕೆ (karōke)
• Kazakh: караоке (karaoke)
• Khmer: ខារ៉ាអូខេ (kʰaaraa’ookʰee)
• Korean: 노래방 (ko) (noraebang), 가라오케 (ko) (garaoke)
• Kyrgyz: караоке (ky) (karaoke)
• Lao: ກາຣາໂອເກະ (kā rā ’ō ke)

• Latvian: karaoke
• Lithuanian: karaokė
• Macedonian: карао́ке n (karaóke)
• Malay: karaoke
• Malayalam: കരോക്കി (karōkki)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: karaoke

• Persian: کارائوکه‎ (kârâ'ōke), کارائوکی‎ (kârâ'ōki)
• Polish: karaoke (pl) n
• Portuguese: karaokê (pt)
• Romanian: karaoke
• Russian: карао́ке (ru) n (karaóke)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: карао̀ке n

  Roman: karaòke (sh) n

• Sinhalese: කැරොකේ (kærokē), කැරෝකී (kærōkī), කැරෝකේ (kærōkē)
• Slovak: karaoke n
• Slovene: karaoke n
• Spanish: karaoke m
• Swedish: karaoke c
• Tagalog: karaoke (tl)
• Tajik: караоке (karaoke)
• Tamil: கரோக்கி (karōkki), வெற்றிசைப்பாடல் (veṟṟicaippāṭal)
• Telugu: కరావోకే (karāvōkē)
• Thai: คาราโอเกะ (th) (kaa-raa-oo-gè)
• Turkish: karaoke (tr)
• Turkmen: karaoke
• Ukrainian: карао́ке n (karaóke)
• Urdu: کراؤکے‎ m (karā'oke)
• Uzbek: karaoke (uz)
• Vietnamese: caraôkê, karaoke (vi)
• Yiddish: קאַראַאָקע‎ (karaoke)

Verb

karaoke (third-person singular simple present karaokes, present participle karaokeing, simple past and past participle karaoked)

1. (intransitive) to perform karaoke

Translations

to perform karaoke

• Finnish: laulaa karaokea

See also

• a capella
• KTV

---

Esperanto

Etymology

From karaoko (“karaoke”) +‎ -e.

Adverb

karaoke

1. in a karaoke manner

   kanti karaoke

   to sing karaoke

   • 2019 July 9, Tani Hiroyuki, “Re: Asia esperanto”, in soc.culture.esperanto, Usenet‎^[1] (in Esperanto), message-ID <cclltn$j17$1@nwall2.odn.ne.jp>:

     Se vi ŝatas kanti karaoke, vi estas karaokulo.

     If you like to sing karaoke, you are a ‘karaoke-er’.

   • 2005 May, Hämäläinen, Riitta, “KEF post kvin jaroj refoje en Finnlando”, in Esperanto en Danio, volume 12, number 2 (in Esperanto), Dana Esperanto-Asocio, ISSN 0909-6124:

     “La plej amuza programero estos verŝajne esperanta karaokeo kun la efektiva bando mem – se nur iu kuraĝos karaoke kanti “Ĉu vi pretas” kun Dolchamar”, ridetas Riitta.

     “The most fun event will be, it seems, Esperanto karaoke with the actual band itself – if only someone will have the courage to sing karaoke “Ĉu vi pretas?” with Dolchamar”, smiles Riitta.

Related terms

• karaoka (“of or relating to karaoke”)
• karaokejo (“karaoke lounge”)
• karaoki (“to sing karaoke”)
• karaokilo (“karaoke machine”)

---

Finnish

Etymology

Borrowed from English karaoke, borrowed from Japanese カラオケ (karaoke).

Noun

karaoke

1. karaoke (form of entertainment)

Declension

Inflection of karaoke (Kotus type 8/nalle, no gradation)
nominative		karaoke	—
genitive		karaoken	—
partitive		karaokea	—
illative		karaokeen	—
		singular	plural
nominative		karaoke	—
accusative	nom.	karaoke	—
	gen.	karaoken
genitive		karaoken	—
partitive		karaokea	—
inessive		karaokessa	—
elative		karaokesta	—
illative		karaokeen	—
adessive		karaokella	—
ablative		karaokelta	—
allative		karaokelle	—
essive		karaokena	—
translative		karaokeksi	—
instructive		—	—
abessive		karaoketta	—
comitative		—	—

Derived terms

• karaokebaari (“karaoke bar”)
• karaokelaite (“karaoke machine”)
• laulaa karaokea (“to karaoke”)

Anagrams

• korkeaa

---

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese カラオケ (karaoke), from 空 (kara, “empty”) + オケ (oke, “orchestra”), an abbreviation of オーケストラ (ōkesutora), from English orchestra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ra.o.ke/
• Hyphenation: ka‧ra‧o‧ké

Noun

karaoke

1. A form of entertainment popular in clubs, at parties, etc, in which individual members of the public sing along to pre-recorded instrumental versions of popular songs, the lyrics of which are displayed for the singer on a screen in time with the music.
2. A karaoke session.

---

Japanese

Romanization

karaoke

1. Rōmaji transcription of カラオケ

---

Polish

Etymology

From Japanese カラオケ (karaoke).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.raˈɔ.kɛ/

Noun

karaoke n (indeclinable)

1. karaoke
2. karaoke pub

Further reading

• karaoke in Polish dictionaries at PWN

---

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ka.ɾa.ˈɔ.kɨ/
• Hyphenation: ka‧ra‧o‧ke

Noun

karaoke m (plural karaokes)

1. Alternative form of karaokê

---

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English karaoke, borrowed from Japanese カラオケ (karaoke).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaɾaˈoke/

Noun

karaoke m (uncountable)

1. karaoke
2. karaoke machine
3. karaoke bar
4. (slang, Chile) fellatio

Further reading

• “karaoke” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.