nasal
/ˈneɪ.zəl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.49 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of or pertaining to the nose or to the nasion.
adj
Having a sound imparted by means of the nose; and specifically, made by lowering the soft palate, in some cases with closure of the oral passage, the voice thus issuing (wholly or partially) through the nose, as in the consonants m, n, ng.
adj
Characterized by resonance in the nasal passage.
adj
noun
noun
Ellipsis of nasal vowel.
noun
The part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard.
Example Sentences
- "Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages."
- "Neffy uses the same spray device as Narcan, the naloxone nasal spray for opioid overdose, according to a spokesperson for its maker, ARS Pharmaceuticals."
- "nasal vowel"
- "nasal utterance"
- ""Are you sure you're OK?" she said with a nasal Australian accent."
- "The nasal continued in use until about 1140, when it was generally discarded, but isolated examples may be found in every succeeding century down to the seventeenth."
Etymology
From Middle English, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from nāsus (“the nose”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of nasalis.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: -, nāsālis
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈneɪ.zəl/
- British English: /ˈneɪ.zəl/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
Frequently Paired Words
Wiktionary’s coverage of Nasal terms