orifice
/ˈɔɹəfɪs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.77 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "the orifice of an artery or vein; the orifice of a wound; he entered the cave's gaping orifice"
- "As none of the ovicells were observed to be closed by the operculum, presumably because they were empty and the opercula were resting on the primary orifice rim, the ovicell closure type is subcleithral rather than cleithral [51 ], at least in some species of the genus."
- "The plug in the orifice of the tube was temporarily removed and the mirror carefully cleaned."
- "the vagina and other orifices"
- "The maw-worm could emerge unexpectedly from any orifice, including, most alarmingly, the corner of people's eyes."
- "For example, cultures that scorn open orifices of all kinds despise uninfibulated female genitals too[…]"
Etymology
From Middle French, from Old French, from Late Latin ōrificium (“an opening, literally the making of a mouth”), compound of ōs (“mouth”) + faciō (“to make”).
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dʰeh₁-
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɔɹəfɪs/
- British English: /ˈɒɹɪfɪs/