Phrase guide

barrel organ

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A musical instrument in which air from a bellows is admitted to a set of pipes by means of pins inserted into a revolving barrel (typically turned by a crank), originating in France.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: roller organ, street organ

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a musical instrument that makes music by rotation of a cylinder studded with pegs

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: grind organ, hand organ, hurdy gurdy, hurdy-gurdy, street organ

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: musical instrument, instrument

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

61 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: أُرْغُن يَدَوِيّ (ʔurḡun yadawiyy) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Armenian: երգեհոնիկ (ergehonik) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Armenian: շարմանկա (šarmanka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Azerbaijani: şarmanka — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Belarusian: катары́нка (katarýnka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Belarusian: катры́нка (katrýnka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Belarusian: шарма́нка (šarmánka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Bulgarian: лате́рна (latérna) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Catalan: piano de maneta — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Chinese Mandarin: 手搖風琴 /手摇风琴 (shǒuyáo fēngqín) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Czech: flašinet — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Czech: kolovrátek — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Danish: lirekasse — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Dutch: draaiorgel — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Esperanto: gurdo — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Estonian: väntorel — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Estonian: leierkast — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Finnish: posetiivi — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • French: orgue de Barbarie — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Georgian: არღანი (arɣani) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • German: Drehorgel — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • German: Leierkasten — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Greek: λατέρνα (latérna) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Greek: ρομβία (romvía) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Hungarian: verkli — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Hungarian: kintorna — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Icelandic: lírukassi — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Irish: bairille-orgán — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Irish: orgán bairille — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Italian: organo a rullo — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Italian: organetto di Barberia — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Italian: organetto — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Japanese: 手回しオルガン (temawashi orugan) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Kazakh: шарманка (şarmanka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Korean: 휴대용 풍금 (hyudaeyong punggeum) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Kyrgyz: шарманка (şarmanka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Latvian: leijerkaste — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Lithuanian: ryla — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Macedonian: вергл (vergl) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Norwegian Bokmål: lirekasse — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: lirekasse — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Polish: katarynka — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Portuguese: realejo — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Romanian: flașnetă — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Russian: шарма́нка (šarmánka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Serbo-Croatian: вѐргл — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Serbo-Croatian: vèrgl — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Slovak: verkeľ — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Slovak: verklík — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Slovene: lajna — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Spanish: organito — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Spanish: organillo — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Swedish: positiv — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Swedish: vevorgel — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Tajik: шарманка (šarmanka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Turkish: lâterna — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Turkmen: şarmanka — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Ukrainian: катери́нка (katerýnka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Ukrainian: шарма́нка (šarmánka) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Uzbek: sharmanka — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel
  • Yiddish: קאַטערינקע (katerinke) — pipe instrument with air controlled pins in a revolving barrel