A mechanical musical instrument that produces harmonic tones, often a glass harmonica or similar device; any instrument designed primarily to generate harmonics.
From Greek harmonic (harmonikos) + -on (suffix creating agent nouns). This Greek-style coinage emphasized the instrument's primary function of generating harmonic sounds.
Benjamin Franklin invented the glass harmonica in 1761 by discovering that rotating wet glass bowls create hauntingly beautiful sounds—Mozart wrote music for it, but some people claimed the instrument made them psychologically unstable!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.