What does "alphorn" mean?

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.

What is a synonym for "alphorn"?

Common synonyms include: alpine horn, alpine horn, althorn, baritone, brass, bugle.

Alphorn

//ˈalp.hɔːn// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
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.

Synonyms

All synonyms

alpine horn alpine horn althorn baritone brass bugle

Etymology

From Alemannic German Alphorn, German Alphorn.

Related phrases

folk music

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.