cornet

American  

[kawr-net, kawr-nit, kawr-net] / kɔrˈnɛt, ˈkɔr nɪt, kɔrˈnɛt /

noun

• cornets
  plural

1. Music. a valved wind instrument of the trumpet family.

2. a small cone of paper twisted at the end and used for holding candy, nuts, etc.

3. a pastry cone, usually filled with whipped cream.

4. British. a conical wafer, as for ice cream; cone.

5. a large, white, winged headdress formerly worn by the members of the Sisters of Charity.

6. a woman's headdress, often cone-shaped, usually of delicate fabrics and having lappets of lace or other material, worn by women from the 14th to the 18th century.

7. a pennant or flag used for signaling in a navy.

8. (formerly) the officer who carried the colors in a troop of cavalry.

   the cornet of horse.

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cornet British  

/ ˈkɔːnɪt /

noun

1. Also called: cornet à pistons. a three-valved brass instrument of the trumpet family. Written range: about two and a half octaves upwards from E below middle C. It is a transposing instrument in B flat or A

2. a person who plays the cornet

3. a variant spelling of cornett

4. a cone-shaped paper container for sweets, etc

5. a cone-shaped wafer container for ice cream

6. (formerly) the lowest rank of commissioned cavalry officer in the British army

7. short for field cornet

8. a starched and wired muslin or lace cap worn by women from the 12th to the 15th centuries

9. the large white headdress of some nuns

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cornets
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cornet

1325–75; Middle English < Middle French, Old French, equivalent to corn horn (< Latin cornū; see cornu) + -et -et

Explanation

A cornet is a brass instrument that looks like a smaller, wider trumpet. The cornet used to be a common feature of jazz bands, until it was replaced by the trumpet. The cornet sounds similar to a trumpet, but softer and mellower. This difference in tone or timbre is why a cornet can't usually be played as a substitute for a trumpet (or vice versa), even though they are played in the same way and at identical pitches. They simply sound different. The word cornet comes from the original cornet-à-pistons, or "cornet with valves," and the Latin cornu, "horn."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cornet cornets

An inventive trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong shifted jazz away from an ensemble experience with collective improvisation to one focused on solo performance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026

Headed by a local teenage cornet player, those in the funeral procession sang Swing Low, Sweet Chariot - amended slightly to include references to Wasdale.

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2024

The farmers and miners got to hear the most intoxicating music on Earth from brassy cornet players and driving saxophonists, exotic trombone mutes, squealing trumpets and sultry clarinets.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2024

His most recent release, in 2022, was a trio album, “Heart Is a Melody,” with Kirk Knuffke on cornet and Matt Wilson on drums.

From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2023

She bought him a cornet and made him take lessons, figuring he’d be put in an army band and play at parades and reviews only and be kept away from the front.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

Wilson recently conducted two performances of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta “Princess Ida” on period instruments, with “tiny trombones and cornets and gut strings and everything.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2023

Made from silicone-coated parchment, cornets can hold liquids well, without leaks or spills, and maintain shape despite contact with heat.

From Salon ● Feb. 8, 2023

Gougères were served, along with Keller’s signature cornets: salmon-tartare-filled ice-cream cones the size of golf tees.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 26, 2017

In the La Pasion Sevilla brass band, all the cornets are sopranos.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2012

By seven o'clock the orchestra has arrived--no thin five-piece affair but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones and viols and cornets and piccolos and low and high drums.

From " The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald