Word.ws English Dictionary

melodeon

UK/mɪˈləʊdɪən//məˈloʊdi.ən/

melodeon noun: a type of reed organ with a single keyboard.

Noun (1)

melodeon (plural melodeons)

  1. (historical) A type of reed organ with a single keyboard.
    • The thin, nearsighted young woman who had been humped over the keyboard of the melodeon, straightened up. The worshipers relaxed a little and began to look about.1909, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Keziah Coffin
  2. An accordion where the melody-side keyboard is limited to the notes of diatonic scales in a small number of keys.
    • But Chae said it didn't matter, he'd bring his melodeon and Long Rob his fiddle; and faith! if that didn't content the folk they were looking for a church parade of the Gordons, not a wedding.1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 147
    • His brother, Roy, joined him as a dancer - their two-man jigs were much admired - and his nephew, Jamie Wheeler, has become the side's principal musician, on melodeon and fiddle.2009 January 13, Derek Schofield, “Francis Shergold”, in The Guardian

Noun (2)

melodeon (plural melodeons)

  1. (US, historical) A music hall.

Synonyms of melodeon

Forms of melodeon

pluralmelodeons
alternative formmelodium

Origin of melodeon

From French mélodium, with change of ending.

From melo- + odeon.

Words formed from melodeon

Words that rhyme with melodeon

Questions about melodeon

What does melodeon mean?
Melodeon means a type of reed organ with a single keyboard.
What part of speech is melodeon?
Melodeon is a noun.
How do you pronounce melodeon?
Melodeon is pronounced /mɪˈləʊdɪən/ (UK).
What is the plural of melodeon?
The plural of melodeon is melodeons.

Words near melodeon in the dictionary

  1. melocotons
  2. melocotoon
  3. melocotoons
  4. melodeath
  5. melodeclamation
  6. melodeon
  7. melodeonist
  8. melodeonists
  9. melodeons
  10. melodeum
  11. melodial

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: melodeon (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-melodeon.ogg.

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