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saxophone

The Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax built a brass horn with a clarinet-style reed in the early 1840s. He patented it in Paris in 1846 as the saxophone, Sax's name plus Greek phōnḗ 'sound'; military bands spread it through Europe, and American jazz, as the 'sax', spread it everywhere else.

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1842French

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

saxophone

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