Your windpipe is the tube in your neck that carries air from your mouth and nose down into your lungs. Its scientific name is the trachea, but windpipe describes exactly what it does: it's the pipe for wind, or air, to travel through.

You can feel your windpipe at the front of your neck, below your voice box. It's protected by rings of cartilage (the same flexible material that makes up your nose and ears) that keep it from collapsing when you swallow or turn your head. These rings feel like stacked ridges if you gently touch the front of your throat.

When you breathe in, air rushes down your windpipe and branches off into smaller tubes leading to each lung. When you breathe out, the air travels back up through the windpipe and out through your nose or mouth. Your body is very protective of the windpipe. If food or water accidentally “goes down the wrong pipe,” you immediately start coughing. That coughing is your body's way of keeping the windpipe clear so you can breathe safely.

People sometimes say their throat feels tight or scratchy when they're sick, but they usually mean the area around the windpipe rather than the windpipe itself.