1869, agent noun from synthesize. As a type of instrument for generating musical or vocal sounds from 1909; the electronic version is from 1950s.
Entries linking to synthesizer
synthesize v.
"combine or bring together" (two or more things), 1825, from synthesis + -ize. The classically correct formation is synthetize, which preserves the consonant of the Greek stem and which has been used since at least 19c. in the sciences and linguistics in the more precise meaning"to unite in regular structure." Compare hypothesize. Related: Synthesized; synthesizing.