saxophone

Etymology

It is borrowed from French saxophone,^[2][3][4] named after its inventor, the Belgian instrument maker Antoine Joseph Sax, known as Adolphe Sax (1814–1894),^[2][5][4][6] with the connecting -o- and -phone,^[3][7] which goes back to Ancient Greek φωνή (phōnḗ, “voice, sound”).^[2] The OED analyses it as the name Sax with Ancient Greek -φωνος (-phōnos, “voiced, sounding”).^[8] Etymonline notes that the surname is a variant of the surnames Sachs and Sacks, literally "Saxon".^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A brass wind instrument with a clarinet mouthpiece, invented by Adolphe Sax: 1851, in the official catalogue of the Great Exhibition in London.^[8][5][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Sax devised the instrument around 1840,^[2][5][3][8] using principles that his father, Charles Joseph Sax, had applied to the saxhorn;^[3][5] Collins gives 1846, the year of his patent, for the invention.^[9] It was meant at first as a fuller-toned substitute for the clarinet in military bands,^[2] and Merriam-Webster still mentions military bands and dance orchestras;^[4] Collins and the Shorter Oxford describe it as used mainly in jazz and popular music.^[9][7] The 20th century added a sense for the player (1929) and a verb, to play the saxophone or to make a loud raucous noise (1927).^[8] In the slang of American drug users of the 1930s a saxophone was an opium pipe,^[10] and Merriam-Webster also records it as the name of an organ stop.^[4] The short form is sax.^[9]

Timeline

• 1851 – the instrument, in the Great Exhibition catalogue.^[8][3]
• 1865 – saxophonist, a player of the saxophone.^[3]
• 1927 – verb, to play the saxophone; to make a loud, raucous noise.^[8]
• 1929 – a saxophone player.^[8]
• 1936 – in American drug slang, an opium pipe.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wind instrument with a usually curved conical metal tube, finger keys and a single-reed mouthpiece like that of a clarinet, made in several sizes (soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) and used especially in jazz and military and dance bands: He took up the tenor saxophone at twelve.^[4][9][7][8]
2. A person who plays the saxophone.^[8][7]
3. An organ stop with a tone like that of the saxophone.^[4]

Verb

1. To play the saxophone.^[8]

Word family

• saxophonist
• saxophonic
• sax
• bass saxophone

Related words

• saxhorn
• phone
• phonetic
• Saxon

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com