Meanings
plural ventipanes
- automotiveA small, pivoting or fixed glass panel set into the front corner of a vehicle's side window, designed to provide ventilation by directing airflow into the passenger compartment.
The “Ventipane,” a wide air vent just ahead of the windshield that opened from inside the passenger compartment, caused this.
2021 March 30, Randy Leffingwell, Corvette: Chevrolet's Supercar, Motorbooks, page 412 more examples
A sliding bolt latch is attached to the ventiplane window to engage the vertical window guide, preventing the window from being forced open from the outside.
1933, The SAE Journal, volumes 42-43, Society of Automotive Engineers, page 450The first job assigned to the robot was to remove the castings of small “ventipane” car windows from the dies, check them by holding them up to a feeler switch, and then drop them on a conveyor belt.
1995, Ford R. Bryan, edited by Sarah Evans, Henry’s Attic: Some fascinating Gifts to Henry Ford and His Museum, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, page 228Synonyms: vent window, quarter glass
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small, pivoting or fixed glass panel set into the front corner of a vehicle's side window, designed to provide ventilation by directing airflow into the passenger compartment.
Origin
Compound of vent + pane. First used in early 20th-century American automotive contexts.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ventipane. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ventipane
“ventipane.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ventipane. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ventipane,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ventipane.
Source: ventipane on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.