Mouthpiece

Definition: Mouthpiece

Mouthpiece

Noun

1. A part that goes over or into the mouth of a person; "the mouthpiece of a respirator".

2. An acoustic device; the part of a telephone into which a person speaks.

3. (informal) a spokesperson (as a lawyer).

4. (especially boxing) equipment that protects an athlete's mouth.

5. The tube of a pipe or cigarette holder that a smoker holds in the mouth.

6. The aperture of a wind instrument into which the player blows directly.

Date "mouthpiece" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1615. (references)

Domain	Definition
Metallurgy	The refractory metal part attached to the horizontal retort to which the door is fixed. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

On wind instruments the mouthpiece is that part of the instrument which is placed in, or next to, the player's mouth. In conjunction with the player's lips and, on many woodwind instruments, a reed, it produces the basic musical tones that characterize each particular instrument, from the single reed of the clarinet or saxophone to the flared turned brass tube of the horns, such as the trumpet, trombone, tuba, and the bugle. The double reed of the oboe or bassoon may also be thought of as a mouthpiece, although it is rarely referred to as such, because only the reed is placed in the mouth, while on the clarinet, a portion of the instrument itself is as well.

Mouthpieces are human-machine interfaces designed to transmit the maximum musical information from the mouth, lips, tongue and lungs of the performer into the air column of the instrument. On the performer's side, mouthpiece must be matched to embouchure, the exact way of setting the mouth parts to transmit the maximum of musical information to the mouthpiece.

Thus, the mouthpiece, attached to its instrument, is a means of extending the expressive power of the upper body. The typical mouthpiece is capable of playing only a few notes on its own, often with poor tone. By varying the air column in a myriad of ingenious ways, these few notes are transformed into many notes of many tones on the various instruments.

Trumpet mouthpiece from the side
Larger version

In western instruments of the European classical tradition, there are several different kinds of mouthpieces. One of the most common is the one seen on brass instruments, which is a type also used on several non-western instruments. This consists of a simple circular opening which leads to the main body of the instrument. The player causes his lips to vibrate while they are placed next to this opening. This causes the column of air contained within the instrument to vibrate.

Trumpet mouthpiece from the front.
Note the cushioning effect of the rim, the cup in which the lips vibrate, and the small aperture which goes through into the rest of the instrument
Larger version
The mouthpiece of many brass instruments, including the trumpet and trombone, is cup shaped, although the French horn's mouthpiece is simpler, being only slightly flared. The degree of flaring, and the exact shape of the "cup" if present can greatly affect the timbre of the instrument. The width of the opening in the mouthpiece also has an effect. A mouthpiece with a narrow bore is generally preferred by horn players who concentrate on the upper range of their instrument, and a wider bore by those who emphasize the lower range of their instrument in their playing.

The mouthpiece on single-reed instruments, such as the clarinet is quite different. These mouthpieces are basically wedge-shaped, with the reed being placed against the flat surface closest to the player's bottom lip. Here, the player causes the reed to vibrate, which in turn sets the column of air contained within the instrument in vibration. Near the top of the mouthpiece there is a small opening into the inside of the instrument. As with the brass instruments, the shape of the bore immediately beyond the opening can greatly affect the sound of the instrument. On some woodwind instruments, the bore here is a simple extension of the main body of the instrument, although it is possible to widen it by various means.

See also musical instrument and smoking pipe.

Synonyms: Mouthpiece

Synonyms: embouchure (n), gumshield (n), mouth (n). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Information	Informant, authority, teller, intelligencer, reporter, exponent, mouthpiece;
Interpreter	Spokesman, speaker, mouthpiece.
Speech	Speaker; Verb: spokesman; prolocutor, interlocutor; mouthpiece, Hermes; orator, oratrix, oratress; Demosthenes, Cicero; rhetorician; stump orator, platform orator; speechmaker, patterer, improvisatore.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Movie/TV Titles	The Mouthpiece (1932)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	A book of the beginnings, containing an attempt to recover and reconstitute the lost origines of the myths and mysteries, types and symbols, religion and language, with Egypt for the mouthpiece and Africa as the birthplace (reference) Great Mouthpiece (reference) Mouthpiece (reference) The Mouthpiece (Scarlet Dagger Crime Large Print) [LARGE PRINT] (reference) Woodwind Mouthpiece Selectoni (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Mouthpiece (reference) (more periodical examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Karl Marx	The writer may very well serve a movement of history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot of course create it.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man	Joyce, James	The imitation was prevented by a mild expression of anger from Wallis in whose mouthpiece the cigarette had become too tightly wedged.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Rinse only the mouthpiece and cap in warm water. (references)
		Remove the metal canister from the L-shaped plastic mouthpiece. (references)
		Pulmonary function tests (PFTs) require the patient to breathe into a mouthpiece. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Mouthpiece" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Mouthpiece" is used about 169 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	169	23,972

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "mouthpiece"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		pipëz (blowpipe, burner, cannulae, lip, nozzle, quill, Reed). (various references)

Arabic		‏ناطق بلسان (mouth, speaker), ‏لسان حال (organ), ‏جزء من الآلة الموسيقية, ‏الناطق بلسان الحكومة. (various references)

Bulgarian		цигаре (cigarette holder, cigar-holder), говорител (announcer, newscaster, speaker), мундщук (cannon bit, embouchure, lip, neck, nozzle, snout), адвокат криминалист. (various references)

Chinese		喉舌 . (various references)

Czech		mikrofon (microphone, Mike), náustek. (various references)

Danish		mundstykke (die, extruder die, finish, nozzle, nozzle-tip, ring), rørende (piping end), naebformet mundstykke (fipple). (various references)

Dutch		mondstuk (fipple, nozzle, nozzle-tip), pijplijneinde (piping end), pijpleidingeinde (piping end). (various references)

Finnish		suukappale (nozzle). (various references)

French		embouchure (mouth), bec (mouth). (various references)

German		mundstück (nosepiece, tip), sprechmuschel. (various references)

Greek		επιστόμιο (bung(California), shive, valve). (various references)

Hebrew		פי�" (orifice), פומית (jet), �"ובר (mouth, speaker, spokesman), בטאון (organ). (various references)

Hungarian		szopóka (nipple), szószóló (advocate, combatant, ombudsman, spokesman), szócső (megaphone, trumpet), szájrész, fúvóka (jet, muzzle, nose, nozzle, tuyčre), csutora. (various references)

Italian		imboccatura (entrance, mouth), bocchino (cigarette holder). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		送話器 (transmitter), マイコプラズマ肺炎 (at one's own pace, budget reduction, Die Meistersinger, maestro, mild, mild inflation, mile, miler, miles, milestone, mime, mind, mind-control, mine, minor, minor change, Minor League, minor level, minority, minus, mound, mount, mountain, mountain music, mounting, mouse, mouse unit, mouth, movingicon, my pace, mycoplasma pneumonia, negative image, one'shome, one'shouse, personal computer), screwdriverdriver), something that a person is currently obsessed with or fascinated by), 口付き (manner of speech, mouth), 口利き (eloquent person, man of influence, mediator, middleman), 代弁者 (spokesman), 吸口 (cigarette holder), 吸い口 (filter, tip). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		すいくち (cigarette holder, filter, tip), マウス�"ース , そうわき (transmitter), くちきき (eloquent person, man of influence, mediator, middleman), くちづき (manner of speech, mouth), くちつき (manner of speech, mouth), � いべ�"しゃ (spokesman). (various references)

Korean		마우스�"�스. (various references)

Manx		loayreyder (speaker, talker), beealag (embouchure, port). (various references)

Pig Latin		outhpiecemay

Portuguese		microfone (microphone, mike), porta-voz (fugleman, speaking-trumpet, spokesman, spokesperson, spokeswoman), intérprete (exponent, interpreter, minstrel, representative, spokesman), embocadura (influx, mouth, nozzle, pod, socket), boquim, boquilha (finish, ring), bocal (aperture, mouth, muzzle, nozzle, opening, snout, socket), boca (aperture, beginning, gob, jaw, jaws, kisser, lips, maw, mouth, muzzle, opening, orifice, outfall, socket, stoma), bico (beak, bill, neb, nib, nozzle, peak, prickle). (various references)

Romanian		muştiuc, purtãtor de cuvânt (speaker, spokesman), organ (agency, authority, body, organ), exponent (exponent, index, representative, spokesman), avocat pledant, ajutaj (jet, nozzle). (various references)

Russian		мундштук (cigarette holder, cigarette-holder, embouchure, jet, neck, snout). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		pisak (screech, shriek, spout), deo mikrofona, štitnik za zube. (various references)

Spanish		boquilla (beak, cigarette holder, cigar-holder, holder, mouth, nozzle, tip), micrófono (microphone, mike). (various references)

Swedish		talesman (exponent, prophet, spokesman, spokesperson), språkrör, munstycke (jet, nozzle, tip). (various references)

Turkish		sözcü (announcer, coryphaeus, rapporteur, speaker, spokesman), avukat (advocate, attorney, attorney at low, barrister, counsel, counsellor-at-law, counselor, counselor-at-law, intercessor, lawyer, pleader, solicitor, writer to the signet), ağızlık (cigarette holder, muzzle, nozzle). (various references)

Ukrainian		рупор (horn, megaphone, speaking trumpet, speaking tube, trumpet, voice), мундштук (cigarette holder, tip), промовець (orator, prevaricator, speaker). (various references)

Vietnamese		sáo (trite). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	oscula, osculo, osculum. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "mouthpiece": mouthpieces. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Mouthpiece" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: mouthpeice. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "mouthpiece" (pronounced mou"thpē's)
3	-p ē' s	altarpiece, centerpiece, crosspiece, eyepiece, masterpiece, showpiece, timepiece.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-e-e-h-i-m-o-p-t-u"
	-2 letters: euphotic.
	-3 letters: compete, compute, copihue, couthie, epitome, metopic, picotee, potiche.
	-4 letters: coempt, cometh, emetic, hempie, imphee, impute, metope, ophite, optime, photic, poetic, pumice, techie, tempeh, touche, toupee, uptime.
	-5 letters: cheep, chemo, chime, chimp, chomp, chump, chute, comet, compt, comte, coupe, couth, cutie, emote, epoch, ethic, hemic, humic, miche, mouch, mouth, mutch, ohmic, opium, optic.
	Words containing the letters "c-e-e-h-i-m-o-p-t-u"
	+1 letter: mouthpieces.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

4D 6F 75 74 68 70 69 65 63 65

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

⁼

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

-- --- ..- - .... .--. .. . -.-. .

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01001101 01101111 01110101 01110100 01101000 01110000 01101001 01100101 01100011 01100101

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#77 &#111 &#117 &#116 &#104 &#112 &#105 &#101 &#99 &#101

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

004D 006F 0075 0074 0068 0070 0069 0065 0063 0065

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
bach mouthpiece trombone	281	tenor saxophone mouthpiece	6
trumpet mouthpiece	48	meyer mouthpiece	5
mouthpiece	41	sax mouthpiece	5
saxophone mouthpiece	26	coletto metal mouthpiece	5
clarinet mouthpiece	17	selmer mouthpiece	5
alto saxophone mouthpiece	16	mouthpiece schilke	5
tenor sax mouthpiece	9	bach mouthpiece	4
trombone mouthpiece	9	chart comparison mouthpiece trumpet	4
alto sax mouthpiece	8	chart mouthpiece	4
bass clarinet mouthpiece	8	bach trumpet mouthpiece	4
soprano sax mouthpiece	8	otto link mouthpiece	4
mouthpiece refacing	7	heaven mouthpiece	4
tuba mouthpiece	7	french horn mouthpiece	4
express mouthpiece	7	stork mouthpiece	4
baritone sax mouthpiece	7	monette mouthpiece	3
jazz mouthpiece	7	snoring mouthpiece	3
mouthpiece opening tip	6	cornet mouthpiece	3
hard mouthpiece rubber	6	asymmetric mouthpiece	3
discount mouthpiece price	6	cigar mouthpiece	3
milwaukee mouthpiece	6	runyon mouthpiece	3
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Mouthpiece

Definition: Mouthpiece

Mouthpiece

Noun

Specialty Definition: Mouthpiece

Specialty Definition: Mouthpiece

Synonyms: Mouthpiece

Synonyms within Context: Mouthpiece

Information

Interpreter

Speech

Crosswords: Mouthpiece

Modern Usage: Mouthpiece

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Mouthpiece

Books

Periodicals

Image Slideshow: Mouthpiece

Photos:Mouthpiece

Illustrations:Mouthpiece

Computer Images:Mouthpiece

Familiar Quotations: Mouthpiece

Karl Marx

Use in Literature: Mouthpiece

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

Non-Fiction Usage: Mouthpiece

Usage Frequency: Mouthpiece

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Mouthpiece

Modern Translation: Mouthpiece

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Ancestral Language Translations: Mouthpiece

Derivations & Misspellings: Mouthpiece

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Mouthpiece"

Anagrams: Mouthpiece

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Alternative Orthography: Mouthpiece

4D 6F 75 74 68 70 69 65 63 65

-- --- ..- - .... .--. .. . -.-. .

01001101 01101111 01110101 01110100 01101000 01110000 01101001 01100101 01100011 01100101

&#77 &#111 &#117 &#116 &#104 &#112 &#105 &#101 &#99 &#101

004D 006F 0075 0074 0068 0070 0069 0065 0063 0065

47818786748275716971

INDEX

Photos:
Mouthpiece

Illustrations:
Mouthpiece

Computer Images:
Mouthpiece