Etymology

ukulele

u·ku·le·le
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Today it means: A small four-stringed guitar. Full definition →

Hawaiian ʻukulele
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The story

  1. Hawaiian · borrowed fromʻukulele
  2. English todayukulele

Borrowed from Hawaiian ʻukulele, from ʻuku (“flea”) + lele (“jump, jumping”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.