Etymology of "Karaoke"

We all know that "karaoke" (カラオケ) is a Japanese word, but do you know what it means? "kara" is the kanji 空, meaning "empty." "oke" is a shortened form of "ookesutora" (オーケストラ) which means "orchestra" and has its origins in the English word. So there you have it. Karaoke means "empty orchestra." Even though the "kara" part is a kanji, you typically see the entire word written in Hiragana.