noun · verb · 6 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
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
UK:/ˈkæ.ɹiˌəʊ.ki/
UK:/ˈkæ.ɹəˌəʊ.ki/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
US:kâ'rē-ōʹkē
/ˌkæ.ɹiˈoʊ.ki/without the Mary–marry–merry merger
/ˌkɛɹ.iˈoʊ.ki/Mary–marry–merry merger
kä-rä-ō'kāemulating Japanese
/ˈkɑːɹɑːˌoʊkeɪ/emulating Japanese
/ˈkɑːɹɑːˌoʊkɛ/emulating Japanese
CMU ARPABET:K EH2 R IY0 OW1 K IY0
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 2
A karaoke session.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A karaoke parlour.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: noraebang
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
An exercise in which the feet are alternately placed in front of each other while walking sideways to stretch various parts of the lower body and core.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: exercise, hobbies, lifestyle, sports
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
verb
Meaning 5
to perform karaoke
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
singing popular songs accompanied by a recording of an orchestra (usually in bars or nightclubs)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: singing, vocalizing
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Japanese 空 Ancient Greek ὀρχέομαι (orkhéomai) Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Proto-Indo-European *-trom Proto-Hellenic *-tron 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.
Across languages
Translations
86 source translations are retained for this English entry.
Albanian:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Arabic:
كَارَيُوكِي
(kārayōkē)
— a form of entertainment
Armenian:
կարաոկե
(karaoke)
— a form of entertainment
Azerbaijani:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Belarusian:
карао́ке
(karaókje)
— a form of entertainment
Bengali:
কারাওকে
(karaōke)
— a form of entertainment
Bulgarian:
карао́ке
(karaóke)
— a form of entertainment
Burmese:
ကာရာအိုကေ
(karauike)
— a form of entertainment
Catalan:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Chinese Cantonese:
卡拉OK
(kaa1 laai1 ou1 kei1 / kaa1 laa1 ou1 kei1)
— a form of entertainment
Chinese:
卡拉OK
(kha-lá-ó͘-khe)
— a form of entertainment
Chinese Mandarin:
卡拉OK
(kǎlā'ōukèi, kǎlā'ōukēi)
— a form of entertainment
Chinese Mandarin:
K歌
(kēigē)
— a form of entertainment
Czech:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Danish:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Dutch:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Esperanto:
karaoko
— a form of entertainment
Estonian:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Finnish:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
French:
karaoké
— a form of entertainment
Georgian:
კარაოკე
(ḳaraoḳe)
— a form of entertainment
German:
Karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Greek:
καραόκε
(karaóke)
— a form of entertainment
Hebrew:
קַרְיוֹקִי
(karyóki)
— a form of entertainment
Hindi:
कराओके
(karāoke)
— a form of entertainment
Hungarian:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Icelandic:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Indonesian:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Italian:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Japanese:
カラオケ
(karaoke)
— a form of entertainment
Japanese:
ノレバン
(noreban)
— a form of entertainment
Kannada:
ಕರೋಕೆ
(karōke)
— a form of entertainment
Kazakh:
караоке
(karaoke)
— a form of entertainment
Khmer:
ខារ៉ាអូខេ
(khaaraaʼoukhee)
— a form of entertainment
Korean:
노래방
(noraebang)
— a form of entertainment
Korean:
가라오케
(garaoke)
— a form of entertainment
Korean:
화면반주음악실
(hwamyeonbanjueumaksil)
— a form of entertainment
Kyrgyz:
караоке
(karaoke)
— a form of entertainment
Lao:
ກາລາໂອເກະ
(kā lā ʼō ke)
— a form of entertainment
Lao:
ກາຣາໂອເກະ
(kā rā ʼō ke)
— a form of entertainment
Latvian:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Lithuanian:
karaokė
— a form of entertainment
Macedonian:
карао́ке
(karaóke)
— a form of entertainment
Malay:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Malayalam:
കരോക്കി
(karōkki)
— a form of entertainment
Norwegian Bokmål:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Iranian Persian:
کارائوکِه
(kârâ'ôke)
— a form of entertainment
Iranian Persian:
کارائوکی
(kârâ'ôki)
— a form of entertainment
Polish:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Portuguese:
karaokê
— a form of entertainment
Portuguese:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Portuguese:
caraoque
— a form of entertainment
Portuguese:
caraoquê
— a form of entertainment
Romanian:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Russian:
карао́ке
(karaóke)
— a form of entertainment
Serbo-Croatian:
карао̀ке
— a form of entertainment
Serbo-Croatian:
karaòke
— a form of entertainment
Sinhalese:
කැරොකේ
(kærokē)
— a form of entertainment
Sinhalese:
කැරෝකී
(kærōkī)
— a form of entertainment
Sinhalese:
කැරෝකේ
(kærōkē)
— a form of entertainment
Slovak:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Slovene:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Spanish:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Swedish:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Tagalog:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Tagalog:
videoke
— a form of entertainment
Tagalog:
bidyoke
— a form of entertainment
Tajik:
караоке
(karaoke)
— a form of entertainment
Tamil:
கரோக்கி
(karōkki)
— a form of entertainment
Tamil:
வெற்றிசைப்பாடல்
(veṟṟicaippāṭal)
— a form of entertainment
Telugu:
కరావోకే
(karāvōkē)
— a form of entertainment
Thai:
คาราโอเกะ
(kaa-raa-oo-gè)
— a form of entertainment
Turkish:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Turkmen:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Ukrainian:
карао́ке
(karaóke)
— a form of entertainment
Urdu:
کَراؤکے
(karāoke)
— a form of entertainment
Uzbek:
karaoke
— a form of entertainment
Vietnamese:
caraôkê
— a form of entertainment
Vietnamese:
ca-rô-kê
— a form of entertainment
Vietnamese:
ca-rao-kê
— a form of entertainment
Welsh:
carioci
— a form of entertainment
Yiddish:
קאַראַאָקע
(karaoke)
— a form of entertainment