hautbois

H4A1U1T1B3O1I1S1

noun

Any of a family of organ stops that contain reeds.

Similar
oboehautboy
OriginFrench hautbois →
Scrabble 13
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Meanings

nounhautbois (plural hautbois)
  1. Any of a family of organ stops that contain reeds.

    Synonyms: oboe

  2. Any of the (now obsolete) predecessors of the oboe or cor anglais.

    Then [her voice] became a little louder, and sounded like a flute or a distant hautbois.

    1891, Oscar Wilde, “Chapter 3”, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAny of a family of organ stops that contain reeds.

Similar
oboe

More synonyms by meaning

nouna slender double-reed instrument; a woodwind with a conical bore and a double-reed mouthpiece

Similar
oboehautboy
Broader
double-reed instrumentdouble reed
Also see
hautboyoboe

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Frenchhautbois
  2. Englishhautbois

Borrowed from French hautbois. Doublet of oboe and hautboy.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

hautbois. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hautbois

MLA

“hautbois.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hautbois. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hautbois,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hautbois.

Source: hautbois on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.