ska

American  

[skah] / skɑ /

noun

1. a modern style of vocalized Jamaican popular music, which emerged in the 1950s as a blend of African-Jamaican folk music, calypso, and American rhythm and blues, notable for its shuffling, scratchlike tempo and jazzlike horn riffs on the offbeat.

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ska British  

/ skɑː /

noun

1. a type of West Indian pop music of the 1960s, accented on the second and fourth beats of a four-beat bar

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Etymology

Origin of ska

First recorded in 1960–65; of obscure origin

Example Sentences

But for us Xennials and millennials in the crowd who remember the OG Warped Tour, the ska punk band’s set was a fun break from the more traditional Coachella fare.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 13, 2026

I booked the indie, ska, emo, screamo and pop punk stuff.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 19, 2025

Mr. Cliff entered these contests early and began writing songs that were a mash of ska, rock-steady and calypso, globally popular then thanks to a string of hits by Harry Belafonte.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 24, 2025

The breeze carries no aroma of red wine or rain-soaked ska bands.

From Salon • Nov. 8, 2025

I E ska shine; Lat candidus white; Dak ska white shining.

From The Dakotan Languages, and Their Relations to Other Languages by Williamson, A. W. (Andrew Woods)