windshield

Etymology

It is formed from English wind + shield.^[2][3][4][5] The OED compares the earlier windbreak for the general sense, and the slightly earlier windscreen for the sense used of motor vehicles.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A device or structure that shields a person or thing from the wind: 1838, in the journal Naturalist.^[2] Merriam-Webster gives 1902 as its first known use.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In the first years of the 20th century the word was applied to the glass screen at the front of a motor car: Etymonline finds it by 1902 in reference to automobiles,^[3] and the OED's first record of this sense is a 1905 advertisement in a Wisconsin newspaper.^[2] In this sense it became the usual North American word, while British English uses windscreen, recorded in the same sense from 1905.^[3][2][6] The windshield wiper is recorded by 1917.^[3] The older, general sense survives in technical uses: a metal screen that keeps the wind off a flame, a tight cuff inside a coat sleeve, a light cap on the nose of a projectile,^[5] and a cover that keeps wind noise out of a microphone.^[6]

Timeline

• 1838 – a device or structure for shielding something from the wind.^[2]
• 1902 – in reference to automobiles.^[3][5]
• 1905 – the glass screen at the front of a motor vehicle.^[2]
• 1917 – windshield wiper.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The transparent screen, usually of curved glass, at the front of a car, aircraft or other vehicle, which protects the people inside from the wind: A stone flew up and cracked the windshield. (chiefly North American, British windscreen).^[7][5][2][6]
2. Any screen or shield that protects something from the wind, such as a metal screen around a flame.^[7][5][2]
3. A cover for a microphone that keeps out the noise of wind.^[6]
4. A light, streamlined cap fitted over the head of a projectile.^[5]

Word family

• windshield wiper

Related words

• windscreen
• windbreak
• wind
• shield

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin