hautbois

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French hautbois. Doublet of oboe and hautboy.

Noun

hautbois (plural hautbois)

1. Any of a family of organ stops that contain reeds.
2. Any of the (now obsolete) predecessors of the oboe or cor anglais.
   • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Chapter 3,^[1]

     Then [her voice] became a little louder, and sounded like a flute or a distant hautbois.

Usage notes

Used to mean oboe

Synonyms

• (organ stop): oboe

Derived terms

• hautboist

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French

Etymology

haut (“high (pitched)”) +‎ bois (“wood(wind)”)

Pronunciation

• ^{(aspirated h)} IPA^(key): /o.bwa/

Noun

hautbois m (plural hautbois)

1. oboe
2. oboist

Derived terms

• hautboïste

Descendants

• → English: hautboy
• → Italian: oboè
• → Spanish: oboe

Further reading

• “hautbois”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.