Word.ws English Dictionary

chalumeau

/ˌʃælʊˈməʊ/

chalumeau noun: a woodwind instrument which was the predecessor of the clarinet.

Noun

chalumeau (plural chalumeaus or chalumeaux)

  1. A woodwind instrument which was the predecessor of the clarinet.
  2. The lowest range of the clarinet, reaching up to written B♭ (B flat) above middle C.

Forms of chalumeau

pluralchalumeaus
pluralchalumeaux

Origin of chalumeau

Borrowed from French chalumeau, from Late Latin calamellus, diminutive of Latin calamus (“reed”), from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed”). Doublet of shawm and probably caramel.

Questions about chalumeau

What does chalumeau mean?
Chalumeau means a woodwind instrument which was the predecessor of the clarinet.
What part of speech is chalumeau?
Chalumeau is a noun.
How do you pronounce chalumeau?
Chalumeau is pronounced /ˌʃælʊˈməʊ/.
What is the plural of chalumeau?
The plural of chalumeau is chalumeaus.

Words near chalumeau in the dictionary

  1. chalukah
  2. Chalukya
  3. Chalukyan
  4. Chalukyans
  5. Chalukyas
  6. chalumeau
  7. chalumeaus
  8. chalumeaux
  9. chalung
  10. chalungs
  11. chalupa

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: chalumeau (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “chalumeau.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/chalumeau. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.