windpipe

[ wind-pahyp ]

noun

1. the trachea of an air-breathing vertebrate.

windpipe

/ ˈwɪndˌpaɪp /

noun

1. a nontechnical name for trachea tracheal

Word History and Origins

Origin of windpipe¹

First recorded in 1520–30; wind ¹ + pipe ¹

Example Sentences

At two months old, he had his first major surgery, a tracheostomy - a hole in his windpipe to give him an alternative airway for breathing.

From BBC

Eventually, at three months, he was diagnosed with tracheomalacia, a condition where the walls of a child’s windpipe collapse.

From BBC

“They cannot operate and cut out the marble in my chest that is laying on my windpipe, and eventually would suffocate me to death,” she said.

From Los Angeles Times

The larynx functions like an antechamber to the windpipe, or trachea, with a flap of tissue called the epiglottis keeping food and drink from falling down the windpipe.

From New York Times

The measles virus infects the upper respiratory tract where it uses the trachea, or windpipe, as a trampoline to launch and spread through droplets dispersed when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• esophagus
• larynx