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wind chime

wind chime

10 2.8
A hanging decoration that makes soft sounds in the wind
  • noun
  • /wɪnd tʃaɪm/
translation icon : campana de viento
  • Every evening, I sit on the porch and listen to the wind chime play its soft melody in the breeze.
  • wind chimes tinkle
  • hang wind chimes
  • the tinkling of wind chimes

So that is a wind chime.

Examples

  • The bell, a long wind chime of white doves lined one below the other, tinkles behind him.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • On my way to the bathroom, I could hear the soft rattle of a wind chime on the porch.

    Blog text (13)
  • Then, as the wind became stronger, the musical sounds of the wind chime increased.

    Blog text (13)
  • In the garden, glass wind chimes tinkle.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Even the wind chimes on my porch aren't moving much these days.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Just above the swing there's a wind chime that clammers constantly, a sound that is burned in my memory.

    Blog text (2)
  • A breeze has sprung up; in the distance, Charlotte's wind chimes offer their precise, impersonal music.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Hap could hear the bamboo wind chimes that hung from the porch, the deep hollow tones as they rustled in the breeze.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • To one side, an Arcosanti wind chime with a weathered bronze pelican clanged faintly.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Shop on the boardwalk, carefully inspecting plastic paperweights with starfish frozen inside and wind chimes made of painted hot pink shells.

    Blog text (4)

Synonyms

wind bell
vswind chime
3.4

A decorative thing of metal, glass or clay that hangs and makes a soft tinkling sound in wind

is an alternate name for the same decorative object with no meaning difference
wind harp
vswind chime
8.8

An instrument like a harp with many strings that the wind moves to make sound

is a decorative hanging object that makes simple tinkling sounds rather than melodic music

How Noisy

bell
221 1.0
chime
23 1.7
wind chime
10 2.8
mobile
79 6.3

Surface Forms

wind chime singular
wind chimes plural

Morphology

wind + chime

The noun is transparently built from 'wind' (air movement) and 'chime' (a bell-like sound), so the compound naturally denotes an object that produces chime-like sounds when moved by the wind. This straightforward noun–noun composition follows common English and cross-linguistic patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reliably infer the meaning.

Etymology

Wind chime is a simple name that tells what it does: loose pieces hang so the wind moves them and they chime, making soft tinkling sounds. So it means 'a decoration that hangs and makes soft sounds when the wind blows'.