flugelhorn means A brass instrument resembling a cornet but with a wider, conical bore, and usually with three valves, in the same B-flat pitch as many trumpets and cornets but with a more deeply conical mouthpiece than those. A bugle with valves.
Why “flugelhorn” is a great word
A mellow-toned brass instrument with a wide, conical bore and three valves, pitched in B-flat. Its name, borrowed directly from the German Flügelhorn, translates literally as 'wing-horn,' from Flügel ('wing' or 'flank') and Horn ('horn'), and entered English parlance in 1854. Unlike the trumpet, which possesses a predominantly cylindrical bore for a bright and penetrating declaration, or the cornet, which, despite a similar pitch, coils tighter for a direct and focused voice, the flugelhorn is all soft, rounded aperture and diffuse, embracing warmth. It is the sound of a streetlamp through fog, the breathy halo around a late-night jazz phrase, the way its sound seems not aimed but offered—a bronze sigh where other horns insist on a brass shout.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Flügelhorn, from Flügel (“wing, flank”) + horn.
noun
- A brass instrument resembling a cornet but with a wider, conical bore, and usually with three valves, in the same B-flat pitch as many trumpets and cornets but with a more deeply conical mouthpiece than those. A bugle with valves.e.g.“A flugelhorn may be furnished in lieu of the Eb trumpet, a euphonium in lieu of one alto, one Eb alto saxophone, and one Eb baritone saxophone in lieu of two coronets...” — 1900, Daniel E. McCarthy, Manual of Instructions for Quartermasters Serving in the Field:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- saxhorn 65% match — Any of a group of similar brass instruments, resembling a bugle in shape, but with valves vs flugelhorn →
- cornet 62% match — A musical instrument of the brass family, slightly smaller than a trumpet, usually in the musical key of B-flat. vs flugelhorn →
- clavicor 60% match — A brass musical instrument that had three valves vs flugelhorn →
- trombone 56% match — A musical instrument in the brass family, having a cylindrical bore, and usually a sliding tube (but sometimes piston valves, and rarely both). Most often refers to the tenor trombone, which is the most common type of trombone and has a fundamental tone of B♭ˌ (contra B♭). vs flugelhorn →
- alphorn 56% match — A long, curved, wooden horn used by mountain-dwelling herders in the Alps, originally to call cattle but now only as musical instrument in classical and folk tunes. vs flugelhorn →
- cornopean 56% match — A large valved horn or trumpet, similar to the orchestral cornet (cornet-à-piston). vs flugelhorn →
- corno 55% match — French horn vs flugelhorn →
- waldflute 54% match — A kind of large flue pipe for an organ. vs flugelhorn →