bassoon

[ ba-soon, buh- ]

noun

1. a large woodwind instrument of low range, with a doubled tube and a curved metal crook to which a double reed is attached.

bassoon

/ bəˈsuːn /

noun

1. a woodwind instrument, the tenor of the oboe family. Range: about three and a half octaves upwards from the B flat below the bass staff
2. an orchestral musician who plays the bassoon

bassoon

1. The second largest and second lowest pitched of the woodwinds . (The less common contrabassoon is larger and has a lower pitch.) It is played with a double reed .

Derived Forms

• basˈsoonist, noun

Other Words From

• bas·soonist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of bassoon¹

1720–30; < French basson < Italian bassone ( bass ( o ) low ( base ² ) + -one augmentative suffix)

Word History and Origins

Origin of bassoon¹

C18: from French basson , from Italian bassone , from basso deep; see base ²

Example Sentences

The recording quality was coarse, and the score was loudly amplified, a solo bassoon in its mysterious high register sounding like a pigeon being tortured.

From Los Angeles Times

In the Lento e deserto, the work’s only slow movement, the lonely yowlings of piccolo, bassoon and slide whistle formed a tender yet humorous trio.

From New York Times

The brass and winds would have benefited from being placed on risers, giving more acoustical and theatrical freedom to the stunning, mournful bassoon solos and abandoned brass outbursts.

From Los Angeles Times

But it was still marred by a muddled Infernal Dance, for example, and an overly tentative bassoon solo at the start of the “Rite.”

From New York Times

In the suite’s fourth movement, “Beauty and the Beast,” sweet clarinet beauty meets bumbling bass bassoon beast.

From Los Angeles Times