woodwind instrument

1 3.6

A musical instrument that makes sound when you blow air, often using a reed, like a clarinet or oboe

noun
/ˈwʊdˌwɪnd ˈɪnstrəmənt/

: instrumento de viento

She plays the woodwind instrument known as the saxophone in the school band.
use woodwind instruments

Examples

Because the pitch of woodwind instruments changes slightly as the wind pressure changes, there are also small variations in pitch associated with this type of vibrato.

Academic text (1994)
Europeans have been using it for centuries in the production of reeds for woodwind instruments.

Blog text (26)
Flutes, oboes, saxophones, and bassoons are the only woodwind instruments on which performers commonly use vibrato.

Academic text (1994)
Flutes, clarinets, and oboes are all types of woodwind instruments commonly found in orchestras.
To create beautiful melodies, you need to master a woodwind instrument like the flute or the clarinet.

Synonyms

woodwind

vswoodwind instrument

3 4.2

An instrument that makes sound when you blow into or across it, like a flute

is the same in meaning but expressed as a shorter single word form

Surface Forms

woodwind instrument singular

woodwind instruments plural

Morphology

woodwind + instrument

The phrase is directly compositional: 'woodwind' denotes air‑blown instruments (wood + wind) and 'instrument' denotes a musical device, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer it refers to a musical instrument played by wind (e.g. flute, clarinet). This categorisation is common across languages and follows standard noun+noun composition, making the meaning immediately derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Woodwind instrument comes from the simple picture of an instrument made of wood and played with wind, the player's 'breath'. So, it now means any instrument that makes sound when you 'blow' air through it, even though some modern ones are metal.