melodeon

IPA/məˈləʊ.di.ən/
IPA/məˈloʊ.di.ən/

melodeon — noun

  • melodeonsingular
  • melodeonsplural

1. a small button accordion with bellows and a row or two of buttons rather than a

1.nounC2
Definition

a small button accordion with bellows and a row or two of buttons rather than a piano keyboard, often heard in Irish, Cajun, and other folk-music traditions.

Example

Felipe carried his melodeon onto the pub stage and started a lively Irish jig.

collocation: play / carry / pick up the melodeon

The old fisherman taught Caleb to play the melodeon during long winter evenings.

teach / learn to play the melodeon

Common collocations
  • play the melodeon
  • a melodeon player
  • pump the melodeon
  • the bellows of a melodeon
Synonyms

Grammar Patterns

play the melodeon

a melodeon player

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 2: this is a portable bellows-and-buttons folk instrument used by performers, while sense 2 is a fixed indoor reed organ. Often appears alongside fiddle and tin whistle.

Common Mistakes

Reema played a song on her piano melodeon.
Reema played a song on her melodeon.
a melodeon has buttons, not a piano keyboard; the modifier is wrong.
He blew into the melodeon to start the tune.
He pumped the melodeon to start the tune.
sound comes from the bellows, not from blowing.

2. a small 19th-century parlour organ whose notes come from metal reeds set vibrati

2.nounC2
Definition

a small 19th-century parlour organ whose notes come from metal reeds set vibrating by air pulled inward through them by foot-pumped bellows.

Example

Tamar pumped the pedals of the old melodeon while her sister sang a slow hymn.

pump the pedals of a melodeon

A dusty melodeon stood in the corner of the farmhouse parlour for over a century.

the melodeon as parlour furniture

Common collocations
  • pump the pedals
  • play the melodeon
  • the reeds of a melodeon
  • an antique melodeon
Synonyms
  • reed organ

    broader category including the melodeon and the harmonium

  • American organ

    alternative period name for the same suction-bellows instrument

  • parlour organ

    informal term for a small home organ of this type

Antonyms
  • harmonium

    looks similar but pushes air outward through its reeds rather than drawing it inward

Grammar Patterns

play the melodeon

pump a melodeon

Usage Note

Subject is usually a 19th-century parlour, schoolroom, or chapel; air is drawn inward by suction, which is what distinguishes the American melodeon from a European harmonium that pushes air outward. Often confused with sense 1 — that one has buttons and is portable.

Common Mistakes

Mert tuned the strings of the melodeon.
Mert tuned the reeds of the melodeon.
a melodeon has metal reeds, not strings.
The church choir lifted the melodeon onto the bus.
The church choir wheeled the melodeon onto the bus.
a parlour melodeon is a piece of furniture, not handheld.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words describe handheld bellows instruments that make sound by pushing air through metal reeds, but the differences matter. A melodeon is the smallest and simplest of the family, with one or two rows of buttons that each play a fixed scale — pull and push give different notes. A full accordion is bigger, with a piano keyboard or many more buttons, and can play in any key. A concertina is hexagonal, much smaller than an accordion, and held between the palms rather than strapped to the chest. Squeezebox is an informal cover word that any English speaker can use for any of the three. A folk fiddler at an Irish session would normally say melodeon for the small button instrument and accordion for the larger one.

melodeon ↗accordion ↗concertina ↗squeezebox ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • melodeon player
  • melodeon music
  • melodeon bellows
  • melodeon reeds

Phrases

  • play the melodeon
  • pump the melodeon
  • an antique melodeon

Prepositions

  • on the melodeon
  • of the melodeon

Etymology

GreekNew LatinEnglish

From Greek melōidía meaning a song or tune, by way of New Latin melodeon. Coined in the early nineteenth century when the suction-bellows reed organ was newly popular in American homes; the name was later borrowed for the small button accordion used in folk music, because both instruments produced melodies through vibrating reeds.