harmonica

American  

[hahr-mon-i-kuh] / hɑrˈmɒn ɪ kə /

noun

1. Also called mouth organ.  a musical wind instrument consisting of a small rectangular case containing a set of metal reeds connected to a row of holes, over which the player places the mouth and exhales and inhales to produce the tones.

2. any of various percussion instruments that use graduated bars of metal or other hard material as sounding elements.

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harmonica British  

/ hɑːˈmɒnɪkə /

noun

1. Also called: mouth organ.  a small wind instrument of the reed organ family in which reeds of graduated lengths set into a metal plate enclosed in a narrow oblong box are made to vibrate by blowing and sucking

2. See glass harmonica

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Etymology

Origin of harmonica

Noun use of feminine of Latin harmonicus harmonic; in the form armonica (< Italian < Latin ) applied by Benjamin Franklin in 1762 to a set of musical glasses; later used of other instruments

Example Sentences

The process often starts with a personal story of a loss and ends with an unexpected human connection made by the need for something small, like a harmonica.

From Los Angeles Times

Around camp fires on his adventure trips, he played a harmonica.

From The Wall Street Journal

Trossingen bills itself as “the music town,” a nod to its longtime production of harmonicas and accordions.

From Washington Post

At that time, the band said its longtime guitar tech, Elwood Francis, would fill in on bass, slide guitar and harmonica.

From Seattle Times

The show consists of a man alone onstage; his ensemble a microphone, a harmonica, a piano and six steel strings stretched across a select slab of spruce wood.

From New York Times

Related Words

• harp