Meaning & use
windpipe
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
The tube in your neck that carries air from your throat down to your lungs.
Grammar: Countable: say a windpipe or the windpipe; the plural is windpipes.
Patterns
- block a windpipe
- something gets stuck in someone's windpipe
- breathe through the windpipe
He started to cough when a piece of bread went down the wrong way and blocked his windpipe.
The doctor checked her windpipe to make sure nothing was stuck there.
Cold air passing through the windpipe can make you cough.
nouncountablemedical
The same tube seen as an organ, especially when it is injured, narrowed, or needs an operation.
Grammar: Often used with medical words like blocked, narrowed, or damaged before it.
Patterns
- a blocked windpipe
- damage to the windpipe
- an operation on the windpipe
An X-ray showed that his windpipe had narrowed after the infection.
Surgeons repaired damage to the windpipe caused by the accident.
Word forms
| plural | windpipes |
|---|
Common combinations
- blocked windpipe
- A blocked windpipe can stop a person from breathing.
- a piece of food stuck in the windpipe
- She was rushed to hospital with a piece of food stuck in her windpipe.
- the windpipe narrows
- During an asthma attack, the windpipe narrows and breathing becomes hard.
- damage the windpipe
- Smoke from the fire can damage the windpipe.
- breathe through the windpipe
- Air is breathed through the windpipe into the lungs.
Synonyms and how they differ
- trachea
- This is the medical and scientific name for the same tube; use trachea in medical writing and windpipe in everyday speech.
- throat
- Throat is the wider passage at the back of the mouth and neck, not the specific air tube, so it is not an exact replacement.
- airway
- Airway is a broader term for any passage that air moves through, including the nose and mouth, not just this tube.
Word family
- windpipes noun
- The plural form, used when talking about more than one such tube.
Commonly confused: windpipe or gullet?
windpipe vs gullet
The gullet (also called the esophagus) carries food and drink to the stomach, while the windpipe carries air to the lungs; food that goes down the wrong way enters the windpipe by mistake.
Practice
Which sentence uses windpipe correctly?
Choose one answer.
The windpipe is the air tube, so something blocking it stops breathing, as in the correct answer. The first option describes swallowing, which happens in the gullet, not the windpipe; the third describes the gullet; and the fourth describes a blood vessel, not an air tube.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “windpipe”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.