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

He played the blues harmonica between dives and told me he had learned to act at the Jewish community center in the Bronx.

From The Wall Street Journal

He chose a harmonica and played the first part of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” on repeat.

From The Wall Street Journal

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

He’s there to have one of his own tattoos, the image of a harmonica with wings, cleaned up.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• harp