windshield

W4I1N1D2S1H4I1E1L1D2
/wɪnˈʃiːld/

noun

A transparent screen made of glass, located at the front and back of a vehicle in front of its occupants to protect them from the wind force generated by the vehicle's speed and inclement weather.

“The freezing rain covered our windshield with ice and we couldn't see a thing.”

Similar
Less commonScrabble 18

Meanings

nounwindshield (plural windshields)

plural windshields

  1. CanadaPhilippinesUSA transparent screen made of glass, located at the front and back of a vehicle in front of its occupants to protect them from the wind force generated by the vehicle's speed and inclement weather.

    The freezing rain covered our windshield with ice and we couldn't see a thing.

    4 more examples

    For example, when trailers containing new automobiles were first piggybacked two areas of potential damage became evident: (1) diesel locomotive exhaust left a film of oil on the new autos; and (2) auto windshields could be scarred or cracked by the metal-tipped "tell-tales" which warn men atop trains of oncoming bridges or tunnels.

    1960 November 28, David Morgan, “"Piggyback"—U.S. success story”, in Trains Illustrated, page 684

    I was at Park Safari Africa in Canada on the Canadian border. This was years ago outside of Plattsburgh, New York. And I had a new car at the time, and I was driving through, going through the monkey area. And they said 'beware of the monkeys.' So about ten of them circled my car. And this one special one, like he was the leader of the pack, jumped up on the hood and came right up to the windshield and looked in. So I was like making faces at him. [garbled] 'don't do that!' And believe it or not, he made like a face back. He jumped off the car. He took his fingernails and he peeled all the chrome on both sides of my car off. Picked it up, jumped on the hood, dropped it and left- looked at me and left.

    2006 May 9, Penn Jillette, Michael Goudeau, quoting Pat, 34:52 from the start, in Penn Radio

    The new report said 413 million yuan spent on train windshields was wasted when design specifications were changed in March 2011, three months before the line opened.[…] It found that Beichen district government in Tianjin had 340 million yuan in its own accounts instead of being paid promptly in compensation for land procured for the railway.

    2012 March 19, Zhou Xin, Nick Edwards, “China audit details fraud, waste at Beijing-Shanghai railway”, in Michael Perry, editor, Reuters, sourced from BEIJING (Reuters), archived from the original on 04 Jul 2024, World

    Using her hands like windshield wipers, she tried to flick snow away from her mouth. When she clawed at her chest and neck, the crumbs maddeningly slid back onto her face. She grew claustrophobic.

    2012, John Branch, “Snow Fall : The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek”, in The New York Times
  2. A cover for a microphone to exclude airy noises such as wind and breathing.
  3. governmentA lightweight aerodynamic fairing mounted on the nose of an armor-piercing shell to reduce drag and increase range.
verbwindshield (third-person singular simple present windshields, present participle windshielding, simple past and past participle windshielded)

present singular third person windshields · participle present windshielding · participle past windshielded · past windshielded

  1. transitiveTo install a windshield on.

Synonyms & antonyms

Similar

nountransparent screen (as of glass) to protect occupants of a vehicle

Similar
Broader
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₂weh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₂wḗh₁ti
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₂wéh₁n̥ts
  4. Proto-Germanic*windaz
  5. Proto-West Germanic*wind
  6. Old Englishwind
  7. Middle Englishwynd
  8. Englishwind
  9. Englishshield
  10. Englishwindshield

From wind + shield.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic زُجَاج السَيَّارَة الأَمَامِيّ
  • زُجَاج السَيَّارَة الأَمَامِيّscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Basque haizetako
  • haizetakoscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Bulgarian пре́дно стъкло́
  • пре́дно стъкло́ (prédno stăkló)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Catalan parabrisa
  • parabrisascreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Chinese Mandarin 擋風玻璃 /挡风玻璃, 風擋 /风挡
  • 擋風玻璃 /挡风玻璃 (dǎngfēng bōli)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • 風擋 /风挡 (fēngdǎng)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Czech přední sklo
  • přední skloscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Danish forrude
  • forrudescreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Dutch voorruit
  • voorruitscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Esperanto ventoŝirmilo, antaŭa glaco
  • ventoŝirmiloscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • antaŭa glacoscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Estonian tuuleklaas
  • tuuleklaasscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Finnish tuulilasi, tuulisuoja
  • tuulilasiscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • tuulisuojacover for a microphone to exclude airy noises
French pare-brise, parebrise
  • pare-brisescreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • parebrisescreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • bonnette anti-ventcover for a microphone to exclude airy noises
German Windschutzscheibe, Windschutz
  • Windschutzscheibescreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • Windschutzcover for a microphone to exclude airy noises
  • Mikrofon-Windschutzcover for a microphone to exclude airy noises
Greek παρμπρίζ
  • παρμπρίζ (parmpríz)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Hebrew מגן רוח, שמשה
  • מגן רוח (magén rúakh)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • שמשה (shimshá)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Hungarian szélvédő
  • szélvédőscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Icelandic framrúða
  • framrúðascreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Italian parabrezza
  • parabrezzascreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Japanese フロントガラス
  • フロントガラス (furontogurasu)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Malay cermin depan
  • cermin depanscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Norwegian frontrute, vindusrute
  • frontrutescreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • vindusrutescreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Persian شیشهی جلو
  • شیشهی جلوscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Polish przednia szyba
  • przednia szybascreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Portuguese para-brisa, para-brisas
  • para-brisascreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • para-brisasscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • pára-brisascover for a microphone to exclude airy noises
Romanian parbriz, ferastră de față
  • parbrizscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • ferastră de fațăscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Russian ветрово́е стекло́, лобово́е стекло́
  • ветрово́е стекло́ (vetrovóje stekló)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • лобово́е стекло́ (lobovóje stekló)screen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Spanish parabrisas, guinshil
  • parabrisasscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • guinshilscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
  • cortavientoscover for a microphone to exclude airy noises
Swedish vindruta
  • vindrutascreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Turkish ön cam
  • ön camscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Vietnamese kính chắn gió
  • kính chắn gióscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Welsh sgrin wynt
  • sgrin wyntscreen located in front of a vehicle to protect from wind and weather
Cite this entry
APA

windshield. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windshield

MLA

“windshield.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windshield. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “windshield,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windshield.

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