mouth bow

9.9

A flexible bow held between the teeth and plucked to make music

noun

: arco de boca

The musician demonstrated how to play the mouth bow, producing haunting melodies with subtle changes in mouth shape.

Examples

She made rhythmic sounds with her mouth bow by plucking the string and adjusting her mouth cavity.
In some cultures, the mouth bow is used to accompany traditional songs and stories.
She played the mouth bow beautifully.
Can you make a sound with the mouth bow?
In some cultures, the mouth bow is used to accompany traditional songs and stories.
The musician demonstrated how to play the mouth bow, producing haunting melodies with subtle changes in mouth shape.
She made rhythmic sounds with her mouth bow by plucking the string and adjusting her mouth cavity.

Surface Forms

mouth bow singular

mouth bows plural

Morphology

mouth + bow

The compound is compositionally transparent: 'mouth' modifies 'bow', so a learner who knows both words will reasonably infer it is a type of bow played or used with the mouth (i.e., a musical instrument). Specific performance details (held between the teeth, changing mouth shape) may be unfamiliar, but the basic instrument meaning is directly derivable from the constituents.

Etymology

Mouth bow comes from how the instrument is played because a flexible bow with a string is held against the teeth while the player changes the shape of the mouth to make different notes. That's why the name joins mouth and bow and explains that it is a small 'musical instrument' that uses the mouth to make sound.