Clarinet

How to spell clarinet

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce clarinet

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does clarinet mean?

1. nounA woodwind instrument with a single reed and a cylindrical body, played by covering keys and holes.

Clarinet in a sentence

• She practised the clarinet for an hour before her lesson.

• The orchestra needed a second clarinet for the symphony.

Where does clarinet come from?

Language of origin: French

The word comes from the French clarinette, a diminutive form that literally means 'little clarino'. The clarino was an Italian word for a high-register trumpet, and it traces back to the Latin clarus, meaning 'clear' or 'bright', the same root that gives us 'clarion' and 'clarity'. The instrument was developed in Germany around 1700 by Johann Christoph Denner, who improved an earlier reed pipe called the chalumeau, and its bright, trumpet-like upper register earned it that 'little clear one' name. English adopted the spelling clarinet from French in the mid-eighteenth century, around 1768. Remembering that the word shares a family with 'clear' and 'clarion' helps explain the single r and the clean -et ending, where a diminutive sound, not a doubled consonant, is doing the work.

How the word is built

• clarin- (from clarino, a high trumpet, from Latin clarus: clear, bright)
• -et (diminutive suffix: a small one)