Nasal

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈneɪzÉ™l/
• Rhymes: -eɪzÉ™l

Origin

From Latin nasalis.

Full definition of nasal

Adjective

1. (anatomy) Of or pertaining to the nose.
• 2013-03, Nancy Langston, Mining the Boreal North, 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.
2. (phonetics) Having a quality 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; characterized by resonance in the nasal passage; as, a nasal vowel; a nasal utterance.

Noun

1. An elementary sound which is uttered through the nose, or through both the nose and the mouth simultaneously, such asm and n.
2. (medicine, archaic) A medicine that operates through the nose; an errhine.
3. (phonetics) A nasal vowel or consonant.
4. (now historical) Part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard.
• 1909, Charles Henry Ashdown, European Arms & Armor, page 78,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.
• 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, p. 463:Rorge had donned a black halfhelm with a broad iron nasal that made it hard to see that he did not have a nose.
5. (anatomy) One of the nasal bones.
6. (zoology) A plate, or scale, on the nose of a fish, etc.

Derived terms

• nasal bone (anatomy)
• nasal cavity (anatomy)
• nasal fossa (anatomy)
• nasal index (anatomy)
• nasal vowel (phonetics)

Anagrams

• alans, Alans
• Aslan