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Glite Dictionary
woodwind family

woodwind family

1 3.7
A group of instruments that make sound when someone blows into them, like a flute or clarinet
  • noun
  • /ˈwʊdˌwɪnd ˈfæmɪli/
translation icon : familia de instrumentos de viento
  • Children in music class learned to identify each instrument in the woodwind family by their unique sounds.

Examples

  • ♪♪ THE WOODWIND FAMILY.

    Wee Sing in the Marvelous Musical Mansion (1992)

  • The woodwind family includes instruments like flutes, clarinets, and oboes that create music through vibrating air.

  • Oboes and flutes, both in the woodwind family, do not have the same type of sound from a perceptual standpoint.

    Academic text (1993)

  • In orchestras, the woodwind family plays a crucial role in adding depth and harmony to the overall sound.

How Bright

brass band
4 2.7
brass family
  • Specialized
1 3.9
woodwind family
1 3.7
string
62 3.3

Surface Forms

woodwind family singular
woodwind families plural

Morphology

woodwind + family

The phrase is fully compositional: 'woodwind' denotes a class of air-blown instruments and 'family' denotes a group, so 'woodwind family' straightforwardly means the group of woodwind instruments. This noun+family pattern is common cross-linguistically and would be immediately clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Woodwind family comes from the simple image of instruments once made of wood that you play with wind, meaning you 'blow' air into them. So, the phrase means the 'group' of instruments that make sound when you blow air through a tube.