ʻukulele

A form of ukulele — A small four-stringed guitar.

Meanings

nounʻukulele (plural ʻukulele or ʻukuleles)

plural ʻukuleles

  1. alternativeAlternative form of ukulele.

    In addition, there will be a small instrumental group, perhaps composed of four ʻukulele.

    2011, Anthony J. Palmer, “Hawaiʻi Calls: Musics of the Islands”, in Michael Haas, editor, Barack Obama, the Aloha Zen President: How a Son of the 50th State May Revitalize America Based on 12 Multicultural Principles, Praeger, →ISBN, page 158
    3 more examples

    All of the 'ukuleles and braguinhas/cavaquinhos examined in this paper use nylon or gut strings.

    1998, Karen S. Drozd, The Hawaiian 'Ukulele: Its Players, Makers, Teachers and Continuity in Traditional Transmission Processes, page 50

    Overseas manufacturers saw a lucrative opportunity as well; as early as 1918, Japanese firms reportedly were making ʻukuleles.[…]Martin’s high-end strategy stood in dramatic contrast to the rest of the mainland market, where the ʻukulele’s astonishing popularity and what some critics attacked as wartime profiteers willing to produce and sell instruments “false in tone, flimsy in construction, and made in a cheap, shoddy way” sent prices for instruments steadily downward: from $6 in 1914 to $3.50 in 1915 to a sales price of $1.95 in 1917.

    2012, Jim Tranquada, John King, “A Craze of the Frisco Exposition”, in The ʻUkulele: A History, Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, page 104

    As with my previous ʻukulele books for Mel Bay, the songs are arranged in ascending order of difficulty. If you start at the beginning and work your way to the back you will gain a good understanding of how to play slack key style ʻukulele.[…]All of the music is written in standard notation and tablature for ʻukulele.

    2018, Mark Kailana Nelson, “How This Book is Organized”, in Learn to Play Slack Key Style ʻUkulele, Mel Bay Publications, →ISBN, pages 4–5
Cite this entry
APA

ʻukulele. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%CA%BBukulele

MLA

“ʻukulele.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%CA%BBukulele. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ʻukulele,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/%CA%BBukulele.

Source: ʻukulele on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.