French horn

American  

noun

French horns plural

1. a musical brass wind instrument with a long, coiled tube having a conical bore and a flaring bell.

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French horn British  

noun

1. music a valved brass instrument with a funnel-shaped mouthpiece and a tube of conical bore coiled into a spiral. It is a transposing instrument in F. Range: about three and a half octaves upwards from B on the second leger line below the bass staff See horn

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French horn Cultural  

1. A mellow-sounding brass instrument, pitched lower than a trumpet and higher than a tuba.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• French horns
  plural

Etymology

Origin of French horn

First recorded in 1735–45

Compare meaning

How does french-horn compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• English horn vs. French horn
• mellophone vs. French horn

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

French horn

He was in a coma for two months and was showing no sign of brain activity until his family took his French horn to his bedside, and he started responding to the music.

From BBC ● Mar. 22, 2026

Working his acoustic guitar with a French horn accompaniment — French horns! — he dares us to balance our relentless socioeconomic drive with our deep need to hang out, to while away the hours.

From Salon ● Mar. 6, 2026

He played the French horn to get a college scholarship, but found he didn’t want to play in orchestras for the rest of his life.

From MarketWatch ● Feb. 9, 2026

Otto Mortensen’s Quintet for Winds followed, providing a showcase for players on flute, oboe/English horn, clarinet, bassoon and French horn.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026

I wondered if it helped his French horn playing to have such long fingers, like a pianist.

From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen