A window is an opening in a wall or roof, usually filled with glass, that lets in light and sometimes air.
What Does Window Mean?
A window lets you see outside and lets light come in. Many windows can open, so fresh air can come in too.
Please open the window. It's very warm in here.
The word has other uses too. On a computer or phone, a window is a box on the screen that shows one program or page. And a window can be a short period of time, as in a window of opportunity.
🔊 Pronunciation
WIN-doh
The stress is on the first part: WIN. The end sounds like doh.
🗣️ Natural Examples
The cat sat on the windowsill and watched the rain.
Please close the window. It's getting cold.
I prefer a window seat on the bus, so I can see the town.
We spent the afternoon window-shopping.
Which window was open on your computer?
🛠️ How to Use It
Window is a countable noun: a window, two windows.
- Use open and close for the part that moves: open the window, close the window.
- Use look out of (or look out) to say you are looking outside: She looked out of the window.
- Use at or by for where someone stands: He stood at the window.
- A window in a shop is a shop window. Looking at things there without buying is window-shopping.
🤝 Common Word Partners
- open the window
- close the window
- break a window
- clean the window
- a window seat
- a shop window
- window-shopping
🌳 Word Family
- window (noun): the opening. The window is open.
- windowsill (noun): the ledge at the bottom of a window. The plant is on the windowsill.
- windowpane (noun): a single piece of glass in a window.
- window-shopping (noun): looking at things in shop windows without buying them.
👯 Similar and Related Words
- door: an opening you walk through. A window is an opening you look through.
- pane: one sheet of glass in a window.
- glass: the material that most windows are made of.
- skylight: a window in a roof.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
Spelling.
❌ windo, windoe, wendow
✅ window
Stress.
❌ win-DOH
✅ WIN-doh
💬 In a Conversation
Sam: Why is the window open?
Mia: It's a wind eye, remember?
Sam: A what?
Mia: Old word. The wind comes in, and you look out.
Sam: Then please close it. The wind has taken my homework.
Mia: That's what the eye was for. It saw it coming.
🕵️ Where Does It Come From?
Window came into English in the early 1200s from Old Norse, the language of the Vikings who settled in parts of England. The Old Norse word was vindauga, built from two parts:
- vindr, which means "wind"
- auga, which means "eye"
So a window was a "wind eye". It makes sense: it was an opening in a wall that let the wind in, and let you look out.
English already had its own words for a window, such as eagþyrl, "eye-hole", and eagduru, "eye-door". Both are gone now. English borrowed the Norse word, and the Norse word won.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Break the word in two: wind + ow. The first half is the same as wind, the air that blows.
A window is a "wind eye": a hole to look out of, and for the wind to come in.