Standard Lemma guide

karaoke

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'kā emulating 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
  • Dutch: karaoken — to perform karaoke
  • Esperanto: karaoki — to perform karaoke
  • Finnish: laulaa karaokea — to perform karaoke
  • Swedish: sjunga karaoke — to perform karaoke
Real reading context

karaoke in complete knowledge articles