nostril

English

An elephant's nostrils.

Alternative forms

• nosethirl (now Britain regional, archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English nostrille, from Old English nosþȳrel, equivalent to nose +‎ thirl (“hole”). Compare Old Frisian nosterle (“nostril”), modern West Frisian noaster (“nostrill”). Compare also Middle Low German noster (“nostril”), from Proto-Germanic *nustriz (“nostril”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: nŏs'trəl, IPA^(key): /ˈnɒstɹɪl/, /ˈnɒstɹəl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒstɹəl

Noun

nostril (plural nostrils)

1. Either of the two orifices located on the nose (or on the beak of a bird); used as a passage for air and other gases to travel the nasal passages.

   Synonyms: intake, nare, naris, nosehole

   • 1601, Plinius Secundus, translated by Philemon Holland, The Hiſtorie of the World. Commonly Called, the Naturall Hiſtorie […] ‎^[1], London: Impenſis G. B, Book L, Chapter XIII, page 58:

     […] whether it bee that they bee broken winded and purſiue, or otherwiſe bitten and ſtung with venomous beaſts; in which caſes, there muſt be an injection made vp into the noſthrils, of the juice of Rue in wine.

Derived terms

• horsenostrilled
• internostril
• nostrilful
• nostrility
• nostrilled

 

Translations

either of the two orifices located on the nose

• Afrikaans: neusgat (af)
• Albanian: flegër (sq) f
• Arabic: مَنْخَر m (manḵar)

  Egyptian Arabic: فتحة منخير f (fatḥet manaḵyir)

• Armenian: քթանցք (hy) (kʿtʿancʿkʿ), քթածակ (hy) (kʿtʿacak), ռունգ (hy) (ṙung)

  Old Armenian: ռունգն (ṙungn)

• Azerbaijani: burun deşiyi
• Belarusian: но́здра f (nózdra)
• Bengali: নাসারন্ধ্র (bn) (naśarondhro)
• Bulgarian: но́здра (bg) f (nózdra), но́здря f (nózdrja)
• Burmese: နှာခေါင်းပေါက် (my) (hnahkaung:pauk)
• Catalan: nariu (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 鼻哥窿 (bei⁶ go¹ lung^4-1)

  Mandarin: 鼻孔 (zh) (bíkǒng), 鼻子眼 (bíziyǎn)

• Coptic: ϫⲉϥϣⲁⲓ m or f (čefšai)
• Cornish: frig m
• Corsican: naru m
• Czech: nozdra (cs) f, nosní dírka f
• Danish: næsebor (da) n
• Dutch: neusgat (nl) n
• Egyptian: (msꜣḏt f)
• Esperanto: naztruo (eo)
• Estonian: sõõre, ninasõõre
• Finnish: sierain (fi)
• French: narine (fr) f, (unformally) trou de nez (fr) m, (for animals) naseau (fr) m
• Friulian: narile f
• Galician: narno f, ventá (gl) f, venta (gl) f, nares m pl (archaic)
• Georgian: ნესტო (nesṭo)
• German: Nasenloch (de) n, (of animals) Nüster (de) f
• Greek: ρουθούνι (el) n (routhoúni)

  Ancient: μυκτήρ m (muktḗr), ῥώθων m (rhṓthōn)

• Greenlandic: sorluk
• Hebrew: נְחִיר (he) m (nekhir)
• Hindi: नथना (hi) (nathnā), नथुना (hi) (nathunā), नासापुट (hi) (nāsāpuṭ)
• Hungarian: orrlyuk (hu)
• Icelandic: nös (is) f
• Ido: nazotruo (io)
• Indonesian: lubang hidung (id)
• Ingrian: nenähooku
• Italian: narice (it) f
• Japanese: 鼻孔 (ja) (びこう, bikō), 鼻の穴 (はなのあな, hana no ana)
• Kazakh: танау (tanau)
• Khmer: រន្ឋច្រមុះ (rʊən crɑmoh), ប្រហោងច្រមុះ (prɑhaoŋ crɑmoh)
• Korean: 콧구멍 (ko) (kotgumeong)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: کونەلووت (kunelût)

  Northern Kurdish: kunê difinê m

• Kyrgyz: таноо (ky) (tanoo)
• Lao: ຮູດັງ (hū dang)
• Latgalian: nuoste f
• Latin: nāris f
• Latvian: nāss (lv) m
• Lithuanian: šnervė f
• Lü: please add this translation if you can
• Macedonian: но́здра f (nózdra)
• Malay: lubang hidung (ms)
• Maori: pongāihu, putaaihu, pongaponga
• Marathi: नाकपुडी (mr) f (nākpuḍī)
• Mongolian: хамрын нүх (xamryn nüx)
• Navajo: ánííʼ
• Nepali: नासिका विवर (nāsikā viwar), नाके टोड्को (nāke ṭoḍko), नाकको प्वाल (nākko pwāl)
• Norman: nâsille f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: nesebor n

• Occitan: nasica (oc) f
• Old English: nosþȳrel n
• Persian: سوراخ بینی (surâx bini)
• Polish: nozdrze (pl) n
• Portuguese: narina (pt) f
• Romanian: nară (ro)
• Russian: ноздря́ (ru) f (nozdrjá)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuinnean m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ноздрва f, носница f, ноздра f

  Roman: nȍzdrva (sh) f, nosnica (sh) f, nozdra f

• Shan: please add this translation if you can
• Sicilian: nasca (scn) f
• Slovak: nozdra (sk) f, nosová dierka f
• Slovene: nosnica (sl) f
• Spanish: narina (es), fosa nasal (es) f
• Swahili: tundu la pua
• Swedish: näsborre (sv) c
• Tagalog: butas-ilong
• Tajik: сурохи бинй (suroxi biny)
• Telugu: ముక్కురంధ్రం (mukkurandhraṁ)
• Thai: รูจมูก (ruu-jà-mùuk)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: burun deliği (tr)
• Turkmen: burun deşigi
• Ukrainian: ні́здря (uk) f (nízdrja)
• Urdu: نتنا (natnā)
• Uzbek: burun teshigi
• Vietnamese: lỗ mũi
• Volapük: nudahog
• Welsh: ffroen f
• West Frisian: noaster, noasgat
• White Hmong: qhov ntswg
• Yakut: таныы (tanıı)
• Yiddish: נאָזלאָך n (nozlokh)
• Zhuang: conghndaeng
• Zulu: ikhala (zu) class 5/6

References

• “nostril”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “nostril”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• nitrols, trilons