“Karaoke” is a word of Japanese origin. Kara is from karappo, which means “empty. Oke is from okesutura, which means “orchestra”. So “karaoke” literally means “empty orchestra”. It consists of music from which the major melody - the lyrics - have been removed, allowing people to sing the lyrics along to the music.

The world's first karaoke machine, the Juke-8, was built by Japanese inventor and musician Daisuke Inoue in 1971. But it is Filipino inventor Roberto del Rosario who holds the machine's patent. He developed the Karaoke Sing-Along System in 1975.

a form of entertainment, originally from Japan, in which recordings of the music but not the words of popular songs are played, so that people can sing the words themselves: a karaoke bar/machine/night. SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases. Singing. a cappella.