nickelodeon
/ˌnɪk.əˈloʊ.di.n̩/
nickelodeon means A small, rudimentary movie theater that charged five cents for admission, popular in North America from about 1905 to 1915.
nickelodeon is pronounced /ˌnɪk.əˈloʊ.di.n̩/.
Why “nickelodeon” is a great word
A small, early 20th-century movie theater or a coin-operated player piano or jukebox, named for its five-cent admission or operation cost. From nickel (the five-cent coin) + -odeon (from Greek ōideion, a building for musical performances). Unlike cinema, a general term for film exhibition, or jukebox, a specific machine for recorded music, nickelodeon evokes a democratized dawn of mass entertainment. It is the whir of a hand-cranked projector casting flickering light through cigarette smoke, the percussive clatter of a mechanical piano roll in a crowded arcade, and the weight of a single coin granting passage into a world of silent melodrama—a monument to the brief, luminous moment when wonder was priced within reach of every pocket.
Etymology
From nickel (“coin worth 5 cents”) + odeon.
noun
- A small, rudimentary movie theater that charged five cents for admission, popular in North America from about 1905 to 1915.
- A coin-operated player piano, often elaborated with percussion, banjos, bells, whistles, and other musical instruments and noise-makers.
- An American jukebox operated by nickels.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- nickelization 50% match — The process of nickelizing. vs nickelodeon →
- nickelous 49% match — Containing nickel. vs nickelodeon →
- dime 49% match — A coin worth one-tenth of a dollar, that is, ten cents. vs nickelodeon →
- nickelate 48% match — Any of several anions containing a central nickel atom bonded to oxygen or oxygen-containing groups; any salt containing these anions. vs nickelodeon →
- penny 48% match — In the United Kingdom and Ireland and many other countries, a unit of currency worth ¹⁄₂₄₀ of a pound sterling or Irish pound before decimalisation, or a copper coin worth this amount. Abbreviation: d. vs nickelodeon →
- nickelocene 47% match — The nickel metallocene bis(cyclopentadienyl)nickel. vs nickelodeon →
- nicholine 46% match — Created by, in the style of, or pertaining to any of several people named Nicholas. vs nickelodeon →
- neogen 45% match — An alloy resembling silver, consisting chiefly of copper, zinc, and nickel, with small proportions of tin, aluminium, and bismuth. vs nickelodeon →