didgeridoo
Americannoun
-
didgeridoos
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of didgeridoo
First recorded in 1915–20; from an Aboriginal language of northern Australia
Explanation
A didgeridoo is an Australian Aborigine musical instrument that looks like a long, wooden pipe and makes a droning, hypnotic sound. The word didgeridoo is not Aboriginal, and etymologists think the word is probably an attempt to imitate the sounds made by the ancient wind instrument. Expert players can sustain a tone for almost an hour, using the technique of circular breathing (getting air through the nose while blowing out with the lips). Some Aboriginal Australians consider the instrument and its eerie, pulsing sound to be sacred, and consider non-ceremonial playing to be offensive.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Some didgeridoo instrumentalists believe its low-frequency sound waves can foster a state of health and harmony for those in the Aboriginal community.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
Milo Puhan, an epidemiologist at the University of Zurich who won a 2017 Ig Nobel for showing that playing the didgeridoo can alleviate snoring, welcomed the move.
From Barron's ● Mar. 10, 2026
On a recent Wednesday, a Chinese fire dancer gyrated to the drone of a didgeridoo, an Indigenous Australian instrument, in the courtyard of an Israeli musician’s home.
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
In Australia, what would you do if someone handed you a didgeridoo?
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2023
They served us desserts made with Bum Berry goo As we danced to the tune of the didgeridoo.
From FreeChildrenStories.com Collection by Daniel Errico
Despite famously composing much of Hounds of Love on a synthesizer - the Fairlight CMI - she melded those electronic sounds with acoustic folk instruments, such as balalaikas, bouzoukis and didgeridoos.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2022
Aboriginal musicians also played didgeridoos while children from the local Yugambeh people performed traditional dances before Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were accompanied by local elders Ted Williams and Patricia O’Connor.
From Reuters ● Apr. 4, 2018
Their prices also help as the flutes range from $50 to $110 generally, with larger pieces like the didgeridoos running nearly $200 for a 4-foot piece.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 19, 2017
The chefs barbecued lobsters; Aboriginal musicians played didgeridoos.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 2, 2015
The Aussies put their own spin on some of the band’s concert antics, using didgeridoos and kookaburra calls in sound effects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2015
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
