cassette

American  

[kuh-set, ka-] / kəˈsɛt, kæ- /

noun

cassettes plural

1. Also called cassette tape.  a compact case containing a length of magnetic tape that runs between two small reels: used for recording or playback of audio or video in a tape recorder, cassette deck, video camera, or VCR, and for storage of data by some small computer systems.

2. Photography. a lightproof metal or plastic container for a roll of film, having a single spool for supplying and rewinding the film.

3. a replaceable or refillable cartridge in a typewriter or printer that contains the ribbon or ink.

4. a case or tray in a printer or copier that holds the paper.

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cassette British  

/ kæˈsɛt /

noun

1. 1. a plastic container for magnetic tape, as one inserted into a tape deck

   2. ( as modifier )

      a cassette recorder

2. photog another term for cartridge

3. films a container for film used to facilitate the loading of a camera or projector, esp when the film is used in the form of a loop

4. the injection of genes from one species into the fertilized egg of another species

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cassettes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cassette

1955–60; < French, equivalent to casse “box” ( see case ²) + -ette -ette

Explanation

A cassette is an audiotape, for recording or listening to sound. Before CDs were invented in the 1980s, many people bought their favorite music albums on cassettes. You can use the word cassette to mean an audio or a videotape, though it's more commonly used for something you listen to. To use a cassette, you need a tape player or recorder. Cassette means "little box" in French, and this describes the way it looks, like a small plastic box. The modern meaning came about in 1960.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cassette cassettes

More recently, Schwartzman said, “I was at my mom’s house tying my shoe, and I see a cassette tape on the ground titled ‘Rushmore songs’.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 11, 2026

In 1986, Bruce Pavitt was just a music-loving guy putting out a cassette zine and writing a column in Seattle’s bi-weekly music paper, “The Rocket.”

From Salon ● Jun. 9, 2026

A lively, talkative little girl, she spoke fluent Korean at the time, and her adoptive father recorded her on a cassette that then sat gathering dust for years.

From Barron's ● Jun. 4, 2026

The store initially sold Levi’s jeans, records and cassette tapes and tapped into the counterculture vibe that was sweeping the nation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026

Jenna steals away to press "play" on the cassette player she'd hidden in a corner, and soft music wafts through the whole room at just the right volume.

From "You Bring the Distant Near" by Mitali Perkins

Cody couldn’t get enough of the goings-on at the station when the two would stop by to drop off cassettes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026

Somewhere in the bowels of my music collection hides 1985’s George Clinton-produced “Freaky Styley” and 1987’s “The Uplift Mofo Party Plan” on crumbling cassettes.

From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026

Even more profoundly, cassettes democratized access to the act of recording itself since cassette technology required minimal infrastructure and cost.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026

Vishal Kalita's collection of music cassettes has turned his residence in India's Assam state into a private museum.

From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2025

There was Ruth, lying on her side across my rug, peering at the spines of the cassettes in the low light, and then the Judy Bridgewater tape was in her hands.

From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Related Words

• tape