Standard Lemma guide

theremin

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.

  • UK: /ˈθɛ.ɹə.mɪn/
  • US: /ˈθɛə.ɹəˌmɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An electronic musical instrument that generates sound of varying pitch and volume depending on the proximity of the musician’s hands to two antennas mounted on the instrument.

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

an electronic musical instrument; melodies can be played by moving the right hand between two rods that serve as antennas to control pitch; the left hand controls phrasing

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: electronic instrument, electronic musical instrument

History

Etymology

Named after Russian inventor Léon Theremin (1896–1993). Theremin is a French version of his Russian name, Ле́в Терме́н (Lév Termén).

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: տերմեն (termen) — electronic musical instrument
  • Basque: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Catalan: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Chinese Mandarin: 特雷門 /特雷门 (tèléimén) — electronic musical instrument
  • Chinese Mandarin: 泰勒明電子琴 /泰勒明电子琴 (tàilèmíng diànzǐqín) — electronic musical instrument
  • Czech: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Danish: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Dutch: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Esperanto: teremino — electronic musical instrument
  • Estonian: teremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Finnish: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • French: thérémine — electronic musical instrument
  • French: éthérophone — electronic musical instrument
  • French: thereminvox — electronic musical instrument
  • Galician: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • German: Theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Greek: θέρεμιν (théremin) — electronic musical instrument
  • Hungarian: teremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Icelandic: þeremín — electronic musical instrument
  • Italian: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Japanese: テルミン (terumin) — electronic musical instrument
  • Japanese: テレミン (teremin) — electronic musical instrument
  • Macedonian: теремин (teremin) — electronic musical instrument
  • Norwegian Bokmål: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Polish: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Portuguese: teremim — electronic musical instrument
  • Russian: терменво́кс (termenvóks) — electronic musical instrument
  • Serbo-Croatian: терѐмӣн — electronic musical instrument
  • Serbo-Croatian: terèmīn — electronic musical instrument
  • Slovak: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Slovene: teremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Spanish: theremín — electronic musical instrument
  • Spanish: eterófono — electronic musical instrument
  • Swedish: theremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Swedish: teremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Swedish: thereminvox — electronic musical instrument
  • Swedish: aetherophone — electronic musical instrument
  • Thai: เธรามิน — electronic musical instrument
  • Turkish: teremin — electronic musical instrument
  • Ukrainian: терменвокс (termenvoks) — electronic musical instrument