Windshield

How to spell windshield

10 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce windshield

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does windshield mean?

1. nounThe pane of glass at the front of a motor vehicle that protects the driver and passengers from wind and debris.

Windshield in a sentence

• A stray pebble cracked the windshield on the motorway.

• She scraped the ice off the windshield before driving to work.

Where does windshield come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This is a straightforward modern compound built from two very old native English words. 'Wind', meaning moving air, comes from Old English 'wind', which traces back to the Proto-Germanic 'windaz' and ultimately to a root meaning 'to blow', a relative of the Latin 'ventus' for wind. 'Shield' comes from Old English 'scield', a board or protective cover carried in battle, from a Proto-Germanic root meaning 'to divide, split, or protect'. The two were joined in the early twentieth century, as motoring became common, to name the glass panel that protects a driver from the rush of air; the word is recorded in American usage from around 1902. British English instead settled on 'windscreen' for the same part, so 'windshield' is felt mainly as the North American term, even though both halves of the word are plain everyday English.

How the word is built

• wind (moving air)
• shield (protective screen); a transparent compound noun