Meanings
ska1
- uncountableentertainmentA style of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s, combining elements of Caribbean calypso and mento with American jazz and rhythm and blues; it was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae.
Musical Hairsplitting: The act of classifying music and musicians into pathologically picayune categories: “The Vienna Franks are a good example of urban white acid folk revivalism crossed with ska.”
1991, Douglas Coupland, “Eat Your Parents”, in Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 851 more example
Everyone who loves ska has their own story to tell—the first time they heard the Specials back in the '70s, the first time they danced onstage at a Toasters show in the '80s, the first time they saw the Skatalites perform in the '90s.
2014, Heather Augustyn, “Preface”, in Ska: An Oral History, McFarland, →ISBN, page 3
SKA2
plural SKAs
- abbreviationinitialismastronomyInitialism of Square Kilometer Array.
Origin
Origin uncertain. Probably imitative of the crisp guitar sound; other suggestions include a contraction of “skavoovie” (a word invented and used by musician Cluett Johnson), or of “speed polka”.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Dutch ska
- skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Esperanto skao
- skaostyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Finnish ska
- skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
French ska
- skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
German Ska
- Skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Italian ska
- skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Japanese スカ
- スカ (suka)style of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Korean 스카
- 스카 (seuka)style of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Polish ska
- skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Portuguese ska
- skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Russian ска
- ска (ska)style of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Spanish ska
- skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Swedish ska
- skastyle of Jamaican dance music originating in the late 1950s
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with ska
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
ska. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ska
“ska.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ska. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ska,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ska.
Source: ska on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.