woodwind

Etymology

It is formed from English wood + wind,^[2][3][4][5] with wind in its musical sense, as in a wind instrument.^[5] The Shorter Oxford explains the first part by the instruments having mostly been made of wood at first.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Collectively, the wind instruments played with a reed: 1851, in J. Holland's Diurnal Sonnets, in the OED's revised entry.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster Unabridged date the word to 1876,^[5][6] and Dictionary.com to 1875–80.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the whole group of instruments, and with singular or plural agreement it still does.^[2][3] From 1875 it could also name one instrument;^[2] the Shorter Oxford dates this count use, usually in the plural, only to the early 20th century.^[3] The dictionaries draw the limits of the group differently.^[2][6] The OED defines it by the reed, and names the oboe, clarinet and bassoon,^[2] while Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the American Heritage Dictionary also count the flute, which has no reed,^[6][7] and the Oxford Dictionary of English simply takes in the wind instruments other than brass.^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds that the saxophone is sometimes included,^[6] and also records an attributive adjective.^[6]

Timeline

• 1851 – collectively, wind instruments played with a reed.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates the noun to 1876.^[6]
• 1875 – a single instrument of this kind.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Wind instruments such as the flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon, taken collectively, or the section of an orchestra or band that plays them: The woodwind came in softly after the strings.^[8][6][3][2]
2. A single instrument of this group: She plays three woodwinds in the pit band.^[6][7][2]

Adjective

1. Relating to these instruments, to their players or to their music.^[6]

Related words

• woodbine
• withwind

Usage notes

The OED enters a separate noun woodwind, pronounced /ˈwʊdwʌɪnd/ in British English, for climbing plants such as honeysuckle, bindweed and ivy, found from early Old English in the Corpus Glossary.^[2] It explains that plant name as apparently wood and another noun wind, probably an alteration of withwind, and compares woodbine.^[2]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press