uvula

See also: Uvula and úvula

English

WOTD – 4 November 2008

English Wikipedia has an article on:

uvula

Wikipedia

Uvula

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin ūvula, diminutive of ūva (“grape”).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjuː.vjʊl.ə/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈju.vjəl.ə/
Audio (General American): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Homophone: uvular (non-rhotic)

Noun

uvula (plural uvulae or uvulas or (obsolete) uvulæ)

(anatomy) Ellipsis of palatine uvula.: the fleshy appendage that hangs from the back of the soft palate, that closes the nasopharynx during swallowing
Synonym: staphyle
(anatomy) the slight elevation in the mucous membrane immediately behind the internal urethral orifice of the urinary bladder, caused by the middle lobe of the prostate
(music) an object so suspended inside a bell that it may hit the bell and cause it to ring; a clapper

Usage notes

The Oxford English Dictionary (second edition, 1989) marks this word as not naturalized in English.

Derived terms

Translations

appendage that hangs from the palate

Adyghe: бзэгужъый (bzɛgʷuẑəj)
Arabic: لَهَاة f (lahāh)
Egyptian Arabic: لغلوغة f (laḡlūḡa)
Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
Armenian: լեզվակ (hy) (lezvak)
Assamese: আলজিভা (alzibha)
Asturian: campanín m
Azerbaijani: dilçək
Belarusian: язычо́к m (jazyčók)
Breton: hugenn f, hogedenn m
Bulgarian: мъже́ц m (mǎžéc)
Catalan: úvula (ca) f, llengüeta (ca) f, neulella (ca) f, garganxó (ca) m
Central Melanau: aneak tengad
Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Mandarin: 懸雍垂 (zh) (xuányōngchuí), 小舌 (zh) (xiǎoshé)
Czech: čípek (cs) m
Danish: drøbel (da) c
Dutch: huig (nl)
Esperanto: uvulo
Estonian: kurgunibu
Faroese: úlvsur m, úlvur m
Finnish: kitakieleke (fi)
French: luette (fr) f, uvule (fr) f, uvula (fr) f
Galician: úvula f, campaíña f, pinguel m, galiño m, galillo m, pingallón m
Georgian: ენის კლიტე (enis ḳliṭe), ნაქი (naki), სასის ნაქი (sasis naki)
German: Gaumenzäpfchen n, Uvula (de) f
Greek: σταφυλή (el) f (stafylí)
Ancient: γαργαρεών m (gargareṓn)
Gujarati: પડજીભ (paḍjībh)
Hebrew: ענבל (he) (inbál)
Hindi: अलिजिह्वा (hi) (alijihvā)
Hungarian: nyelvcsap (hu), uvula (hu), ínyvitorla (hu)
Icelandic: úfur (is) m
Ido: uvulo (io)
Indonesian: anak lidah (id), anak tekak (id), uvula (id)
Iranun: mananalu
Irish: sine siain f
Italian: ugola (it) f
Japanese: 口蓋垂 (ja) (こうがいすい, kōgaisui), 懸壅垂 (ja) (けんようすい, ken'yōsui) (rare), のどちんこ (ja) (nodochinko)
Kazakh: тілше (tılşe)
Khmer: កន្លើត (km) (kɑnlaət)
Kimaragang: langguk
Korean: 목젖 (ko) (mokjeot)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: zimanok (ku) m
Lotud: landuk, angguk-angguk
Macedonian: у́вула (úvula)
Malay: anak lidah (ms), anak tekak (ms), uvula (ms)
Manchu: ᡳᠯᠮᠠᡥᠠ (ilmaha)
Maori: miramira, toke (mi)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: хүүхэн хэл (xüüxen xel)
Navajo: adáziz
Norwegian: drøvel (no)
Occitan: uvula f, uèla f, luseta (oc) f
Persian: ملازه (fa) (malâze), زبان کوچک (zabân-e kučak)
Polish: języczek (pl) m
Portuguese: úvula (pt) f
Punjabi: ਕਾਂ (pa) m (kā̃)
Romanian: uvulă (ro) f, omușor (ro) m
Romansch: please add this translation if you can
Rungus: llangguk
Russian: язычо́к (ru) m (jazyčók), нёбный язычо́к m (njóbnyj jazyčók), у́вула f (úvula), нёбная заве́са f (njóbnaja zavésa)
Saanich: MELḰ
Scottish Gaelic: cìoch-shlugain f
Serbo-Croatian: ȕvula (sh) f, увула f
Slovak: čapík m
Slovene: uvula f
Spanish: úvula (es) f, campanilla (es) f, gallillo m, galillo m
Swahili: kilimi
Swedish: gomspene (sv) c, tungspene c
Tagal Murut: taruk tantalanan
Tagalog: kuntil, tilao
Tamil: please add this translation if you can
Telugu: చిరునాలుక (te) (cirunāluka), కొండనాలుక (te) (koṇḍanāluka)
Thai: ลิ้นไก่ (th) (lín gài)
Timugon Murut: taruk tantalanan
Turkish: küçük dil (tr)
Ukrainian: язичо́к (uk) m (jazyčók)
Urdu: please add this translation if you can
Uyghur: كىچىك تىل (kichik til)
Vietnamese: lưỡi gà (vi)
Volapük: lüät
Welsh: tafodig m, tafod bach m
West Coast Bajau: pegad
West Frisian: hûch
Yiddish: אוּוווּלע f (uvule)
Zhuang: linxgaeq

References

“uvula”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
“uvula”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

French

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Late Latin ūvula (“small grape”), diminutive of Latin ūva. Doublet of uvule, another borrowing.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /y.vy.la/

Noun

uvula f (plural uvulas)

(anatomy) uvula, palatine uvula
Synonyms: luette, uvule

Latin

Etymology

From ūva (“a grape”) +‎ -ula (“diminutive suffix”).

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈuː.u̯u.la/, [ˈuːu̯ʊɫ̪ä]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈu.vu.la/, [ˈuːvulä]

Noun

ūvula f (genitive ūvulae); first declension (Late Latin)

diminutive of ūva.

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	ūvula	ūvulae
genitive	ūvulae	ūvulārum
dative	ūvulae	ūvulīs
accusative	ūvulam	ūvulās
ablative	ūvulā	ūvulīs
vocative	ūvula	ūvulae

Descendants

→ Catalan: úvula
→ English: uvula
→ French: uvula, uvule
→ Galician: úvula
→ German: Uvula
→ Hungarian: uvula
Italian: ugola
→ Indonesian: uvula
→ Malay: uvula
→ Macedonian: у́вула (úvula)
→ Occitan: uvula
→ Portuguese: úvula
→ Romanian: uvulă
→ Russian: у́вула (úvula)
→ Serbo-Croatian: ȕvula, увула
Sicilian: ùvula
→ Slovene: uvula
→ Spanish: úvula
→ Yiddish: אוּוווּלע (uvule)

Malay

Etymology

From Late Latin ūvula (“little grape”), diminutive of Latin ūva (“grape”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /uvula/

Noun

uvula (Jawi spelling اوۏولا, plural uvula-uvula, informal 1st possessive uvulaku, 2nd possessive uvulamu, 3rd possessive uvulanya)

(anatomy) Uvula (appendage that hangs from the palate)

Synonyms