Phrase guide

music box

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

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.

  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A box that generates or plays music, particularly one using mechanical means rather than electronic, generally using a cylinder or disk containing the music.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

produces music by means of pins on a revolving cylinder that strike the tuned teeth of a comb-like metal plate

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: musical box

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: musical instrument, instrument

History

Etymology

From music + box.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Amharic: የሙዚቃ ሣጥን (yämuziḳa śaṭn) — box that generates or plays music
  • Arabic: صندوق موسيقي — box that generates or plays music
  • Basque: musika-kaxa — box that generates or plays music
  • Catalan: capsa de música — box that generates or plays music
  • Catalan: caixa musical — box that generates or plays music
  • Chinese Mandarin: 八音盒 (bāyīnhé) — box that generates or plays music
  • Chinese Mandarin: 音樂盒 /音乐盒 (yīnyuèhé) — box that generates or plays music
  • Czech: automatofon — box that generates or plays music
  • Danish: spilledåse — box that generates or plays music
  • Dutch: speeldoos — box that generates or plays music
  • Dutch: muziekdoos — box that generates or plays music
  • Esperanto: muzikskatolo — box that generates or plays music
  • Estonian: mängutoos — box that generates or plays music
  • Finnish: soittorasia — box that generates or plays music
  • French: boîte-à-musique — box that generates or plays music
  • French: boîte à musique — box that generates or plays music
  • German: Spieluhr — box that generates or plays music
  • German: Spieldose — box that generates or plays music
  • German: Musikdose — box that generates or plays music
  • Hebrew: תֵּבַת נְגִינָה (tēvát neginá) — box that generates or plays music
  • Icelandic: spiladós — box that generates or plays music
  • Indonesian: kotak musik — box that generates or plays music
  • Irish: ceolbhosca — box that generates or plays music
  • Italian: carillon — box that generates or plays music
  • Italian: cariglione — box that generates or plays music
  • Italian: gariglione — box that generates or plays music
  • Italian: scarabillo — box that generates or plays music
  • Japanese: オルゴール (orugōru) — box that generates or plays music
  • Japanese: 自鳴琴 (jimeikin) — box that generates or plays music
  • Kazakh: музыкалы сандықша (muzykaly sandyqşa) — box that generates or plays music
  • Korean: 자명금 (jamyeonggeum) — box that generates or plays music
  • Korean: 음악상자 (eumaksangja) — box that generates or plays music
  • Korean: 뮤직박스 (myujikbakseu) — box that generates or plays music
  • Korean: 오르골 (oreugol) — box that generates or plays music
  • Central Kurdish: سندووقی مۆسیقا (sindûqî mosîqa) — box that generates or plays music
  • Lao: ຫີບເສບ (hīp sēp) — box that generates or plays music
  • Norwegian: spilledåse — box that generates or plays music
  • Persian: جعبه موسیقی — box that generates or plays music
  • Polish: pozytywka — box that generates or plays music
  • Portuguese: caixa de música — box that generates or plays music
  • Russian: музыка́льная шкату́лка (muzykálʹnaja škatúlka) — box that generates or plays music
  • Slovak: automatofón — box that generates or plays music
  • Slovak: hracia skrinka — box that generates or plays music
  • Spanish: caja de música — box that generates or plays music
  • Swedish: speldosa — box that generates or plays music
  • Thai: กล่องดนตรี (glɔ̀ng-don-dtrii) — box that generates or plays music
  • Turkish: müzik kutusu — box that generates or plays music
  • Ukrainian: музична скринька (muzyčna skrynʹka) — box that generates or plays music
  • Uzbek: musiqiy quticha — box that generates or plays music
  • Vietnamese: hộp nhạc — box that generates or plays music
  • Welsh: blwch cerdd — box that generates or plays music