flageolet

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The Word of the Day for August 27 is:

flageolet   \flaj-uh-LET\   noun
     : a small fipple flute resembling the treble recorder 

Example sentence: 
     Shrill flageolets piped a sprightly tune as merrymakers danced an 
exuberant quadrille.

Did you know?
     Did you think flageolets were beans? You're right, but so are we when we 
say they're flutes. How can that be?  Simple.  There are two "flageolet" 
homographs (homographs are words that are spelled alike though they differ in 
origin or part of speech). The musical "flageolet" reached English first; we 
picked it up from the diminutive of the Old French word for "flute," but it 
traces to the Latin "flare," meaning "to blow." The edible "flageolet" came to 
English via a diminutive of the French word for "kidney bean," but it derives 
ultimately from the Latin "phaseolus," meaning "cowpea."