woodwind

wood·wind
W4O1O1D2W4I1N1D2
/ˈwʊdwɪnd/

noun

Any (typically wooden) musical instrument that produces sound by the player blowing into it, through a reed, or across an opening. Woodwind instruments include the recorder, flute, piccolo, clarinet, oboe, cor anglais and bassoon.

Less commonScrabble 16

Meanings

nounwoodwind (plural woodwinds)

plural woodwinds

  1. entertainmentAny (typically wooden) musical instrument that produces sound by the player blowing into it, through a reed, or across an opening. Woodwind instruments include the recorder, flute, piccolo, clarinet, oboe, cor anglais and bassoon.

    The seven-member Bell Orchestre was indeed a miniorchestra, with strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion along with occasional guitar and analog electronic noise.

    2009 February 28, Jon Pareles, “Turf-Sharing, When Indie Met Classical”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Nov 2022
    1 more example

    The graceful, otherworldly sounds on which the first movement was built gave way to sharply articulated, dissonantly blaring woodwind and brass chords, and eventually to a mechanistic passage that combined rumbling low notes and a steady, searing high pitch.

    2009 September 14, Allan Kozinn, “Austrian Avant-Garde: Eerie Textures and Text”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 17 Jun 2022

Synonyms & antonyms

nounany wind instrument other than the brass instruments

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

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

From wood + wind.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 木管樂器 /木管乐器
  • 木管樂器 /木管乐器 (mùguǎn yuèqì)musical instrument
Czech dřevěný dechový nástroj
  • dřevěný dechový nástrojmusical instrument
Danish træblæser
  • træblæsermusical instrument
Dutch houtblaasinstrument
  • houtblaasinstrumentmusical instrument
Finnish puupuhallin
  • puupuhallinmusical instrument
French bois
  • boismusical instrument
German Holzblasinstrument
  • Holzblasinstrumentmusical instrument
Greek ξύλινα πνευστά
  • ξύλινα πνευστά (xýlina pnefstá)musical instrument
Hungarian fafúvós
  • fafúvósmusical instrument
Icelandic tréblásturshljóðfæri
  • tréblásturshljóðfærimusical instrument
Māori pūhau
  • pūhaumusical instrument
Norwegian Bokmål treblåser, treblåseinstrument
  • treblåsermusical instrument
  • treblåseinstrumentmusical instrument
Persian ساز بادی
  • ساز بادی (sâz-e bâdi)musical instrument
Polish instrument dęty drewniany
  • instrument dęty drewnianymusical instrument
Portuguese madeira
  • madeiramusical instrument
Russian деревя́нный духово́й инструме́нт
  • деревя́нный духово́й инструме́нт (derevjánnyj duxovój instrumént)musical instrument
Swedish träblåsinstrument
  • träblåsinstrumentmusical instrument
Turkish tahta nefesli çalgı
  • tahta nefesli çalgımusical instrument
Cite this entry
APA

woodwind. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodwind

MLA

“woodwind.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodwind. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “woodwind,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/woodwind.

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