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windpipe

American  
[wind-pahyp] / ˈwɪndˌpaɪp /

noun

  1. the trachea of an air-breathing vertebrate.

windpipe British  
/ ˈwɪndˌpaɪp /

noun

  1. a nontechnical name for trachea

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of windpipe

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In addition to farm work, she provides for her son day and night, including cooking and cleaning the ventilation tube in his windpipe.

From Barron's • Jan. 29, 2026

“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 • Aug. 16, 2024

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 • Dec. 21, 2023

Scans revealed he had suffered a 2mm tear in his windpipe.

From BBC • Dec. 14, 2023

The pressure on my windpipe eased and I felt a delicious fullness in my lungs.

From "Educated" by Tara Westover

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.