Word.ws English Dictionary

klezmer

/ˈklɛzmə/US/ˈklɛzməɹ/

klezmer noun: a Jewish folk musician.

Noun

klezmer (countable and uncountable, plural klezmers or klezmorim)

  1. (countable) A Jewish folk musician.
    • The entire Muzikant family of klezmorim, enough for half a symphony orchestra.2007, Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union, 4th Estate (2010), page 213
  2. (uncountable) A type of popular Jewish folk music especially associated with Ashkenazi cultures.

Forms of klezmer

pluralklezmers
pluralklezmorim

Origin of klezmer

Borrowed from Yiddish קלעזמער (klezmer), from Hebrew כְּלֵי זֶמֶר (kléy zémer, “musical instruments”).

Words formed from klezmer

Questions about klezmer

What does klezmer mean?
Klezmer means a Jewish folk musician.
What part of speech is klezmer?
Klezmer is a noun.
How do you pronounce klezmer?
Klezmer is pronounced /ˈklɛzmə/ (UK).
What is the plural of klezmer?
The plural of klezmer is klezmers.

Words near klezmer in the dictionary

  1. Kleverlandish
  2. Kleves
  3. klewang
  4. Klexter
  5. Klexters
  6. klezmer
  7. klezmer-like
  8. klezmerish
  9. klezmerlike
  10. klezmers
  11. klezmorim

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: klezmer (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-klezmer.wav.

Cite this entry: “klezmer.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/klezmer. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.