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ska

American

[skah] / skɑ /

noun

a modern style of vocalized Jamaican popular music, which emerged in the 1950s as a blend of African-Jamaican folk music, calypso, and American rhythm and blues, notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazzlike horn riffs on the offbeat.

ska British

/ skɑː /

noun

a type of West Indian pop music of the 1960s, accented on the second and fourth beats of a four-beat bar

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of ska

First recorded in 1960–65; of obscure origin

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:

ska

Tributes have been paid to Ray King, one of the most influential singers in the ska and 2 Tone music genres, following the announcement of his death.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

I booked the indie, ska, emo, screamo and pop punk stuff.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 19, 2025

Mr. Cliff entered these contests early and began writing songs that were a mash of ska, rock-steady and calypso, globally popular then thanks to a string of hits by Harry Belafonte.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 2025

The breeze carries no aroma of red wine or rain-soaked ska bands.

From Salon ● Nov. 8, 2025

They call it I-yân-ska, probably from iya, to speak, and ska, white, truthful, peaceful,—hence, peace-pipe, herald of peace, pledge of truth, etc.

From The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems by Gordon, Hanford Lennox

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023