harmonica

[ hahr-mon-i-kuh ]
/ hɑrˈmɒn ɪ kə /

noun

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.
any of various percussion instruments that use graduated bars of metal or other hard material as sounding elements.

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 from the Web for harmonica

British Dictionary definitions for harmonica

harmonica
/ (hɑːˈmɒnɪkə) /

noun

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

Word Origin for harmonica

C18: from Latin harmonicus relating to harmony