karaoke
UK[ˌkær.iˈəʊ.ki]US[ˌker.iˈoʊ.ki]
n
a form of entertainment in which a machine plays the music of popular songs and people sing the words to them
Etymology
the word 'karaoke' is a direct borrowing from japanese, entering english in the late 1970s. it is a compound of two japanese elements: 'kara' (空), meaning 'empty', and 'oke' (オケ), a shortened form of 'okesutora' (オーケストラ), meaning 'orchestra'. literally, it signifies an 'empty orchestra'—music without the lead vocal track. the term perfectly captures the core concept of the activity, where the orchestral backing remains for the amateur singer to fill the vocal void. its adoption into english reflects the global spread of this japanese entertainment innovation.
Analysis
this is a loanword from japanese, where it is a compound. it is not segmented in english spelling.
Examples
we went to a bar that had karaoke on friday nights.
she surprised everyone with her confident karaoke performance.
the party really got started when someone set up the karaoke machine.