the.com/wind chime
the only instrument that plays itself and never asks for tips
means A cluster of suspended tubes, rods, or bells that knock together in moving air to make soft ringing or tinkling sounds, usually hung outdoors as decoration.
from A plain English compound of "wind" and "chime" — both ancient Germanic-rooted words. "Chime" is the surprise here: it comes from Middle English "chymbe," which traces back to "cymbal," via Old French and ultimately Greek "kymbalon," a hollow vessel. So the word literally carries the memory of struck bronze. The object itself is far older than the English name, with hanging wind-rung bells (like the Chinese "feng ling" and Japanese "fūrin") used for centuries to ward off bad luck and cool the spirit on hot days.
- origin
- Ancient Romans hung them to ward off evil spirits
- pitch physics
- Tube length determines note, like a metal xylophone
- feng shui
- Believed to redirect and balance flowing energy
- largest
- Casablanca's reaches over 80 feet tall
- bell ancestor
- Asian temple wind bells called fengling predate them
the bells of notre-dame — cathedral in paris with 8 large bronze bells that chime hourly, installed in the 13th century
big ben — great bell in elizabeth tower, london, strikes every 15 minutes since 1859
chinatown gate chimes — decorative wind-activated chimes on gates in san francisco's chinatown district