ukulelen.

1896 Hawaiian Feb.–Mar. 789 Then comes the twang of the ukelele, the soft, melodious cadence of the hula song.

1900 Cent. Mag. June 164/2 Kolomono..holds the ukulele, a stringed instrument which may or may not be indigenous to the island.

1914 R. Brooke in New Numbers Aug. 117 Somewhere an eukaleli thrills and cries.

1919 P. G. Wodehouse Damsel in Distress vi. 93 You see the handsome sophomore from Yale sitting beside her on the porch playing the ukalele.

1932 D. L. Sayers Have his Carcase xii. 146 Campers..brought gramophones or concertinas or ukeleles.

1950 ‘D. Divine’ King of Fassarai xviii. 144 Queer the notions you get about South Sea islands,..all..hula-hula skirts..and ukeleles.

1957 Amer. Speech 32 309 The machete was heard one day by the vice-chamberlain of King Kalakaua's court, who..asked to be taught to play it... This vice-chamberlain was a British army officer named Edward Purvis; but the Hawaiians..called him ukulele because his lively playing and antics and his small build suggested a leaping flea. The new instrument became a great success,..and someone started calling them ukeleles.

1978 L. Thomas Ormerod's Landing iv. 67 The simple boy produced a dramatic strumming chord on the ukelele.