Calypso
name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. countable, uncountable
"'How you does live, Mr. Wordsworth?' I asked him one day. He said, 'You mean how I get money?' When I nodded, he laughed in a crooked way. He said, 'I sing calypsoes in the calypso season.' 'And that last you the rest of the year?' 'It is enough.'"
- 2 A bulbous bog orchid of the genus Calypso, Calypso bulbosa countable, uncountable
- 3 (Greek mythology) the sea nymph who detained Odysseus for seven years wordnet
- 4 A song in this style of music. countable, uncountable
- 5 A light blue color. countable, uncountable
Show 1 more definition
- 6 rare north temperate bog orchid bearing a solitary white to pink flower marked with purple at the tip of an erect reddish stalk above 1 basal leaf wordnet
- 1 To perform calypso. intransitive
- 1 A sea nymph who entertained Odysseus on her island, Ogygia, for seven years. Greek
- 2 The eighth moon of Saturn.
- 3 53 Kalypso, a main belt asteroid; not to be confused with the Saturnian moon mentioned above.
- 4 Alternative letter-case form of calypso. alt-of
Example
More examples"'How you does live, Mr. Wordsworth?' I asked him one day. He said, 'You mean how I get money?' When I nodded, he laughed in a crooked way. He said, 'I sing calypsoes in the calypso season.' 'And that last you the rest of the year?' 'It is enough.'"
Etymology
Originally Trinidad English, an alteration of kaiso, perhaps ultimately of African origin; Allsopp 1996 suggests Ibibio ka iso (“come on”), used to urge dancers on. The spelling reflects a later folk-etymological assimilation with the mythological name Calypso.
From Latin, itself from Ancient Greek Καλυψώ (Kalupsṓ, “name of a sea nymph”)
From Ancient Greek Κᾰλῠψώ (Kălŭpsṓ).
Related phrases
More for "calypso"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.