harmonica Hear it!

harmonica definition

☆ har·moni·ca (här män′i kə)

noun

  1. a small wind instrument played with the mouth; mouth organ: it has a series of graduated metal reeds that vibrate and produce tones when air is blown or sucked across them
  2. glass harmonica

Etymology: L, fem. of harmonicus (see harmonic): name altered < earlier armonica (< It, fem. of armonico, of same orig.) by Benjamin Franklin, who developed this instrument from an earlier form

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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