proboscis

English

Etymology

From Latin proboscis, from Greek προβοσκίς "elephant's trunk," literally "means for taking food," from προ "forward" + βόσκειν "to nourish, feed," from βόσκεσςθαι "graze, be fed," from the root *bot (cf. βοτάνη "grass, fodder); more at botany.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /proʊˈbɒsɪs/

Noun

Wikipedia proboscis (plural proboscises or proboscides or probosci)

1. (anatomy) An elongated tube from the head or connected to the mouth, of an animal.
   1. The tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates like insects, worms and molluscs.
   2. The trunk of an elephant.
2. Informally, a large human nose.

Translations

elongated tube

• Catalan: probòscide (ca) f
• Czech: sosák (cs) m
• Dutch: slurf (nl)
• Finnish: imukärsä (fi), kärsä (fi) (of elephant)
• German: Rüssel (de) m

• Italian: proboscide (it) f
• Russian: хоботок (ru) (xobotók) m (1), хобот (ru) (xóbot) m (2)
• Spanish: probóscide (es) f
• Swedish: snabel (sv) c
• Volapük: probod (vo), sugaprobod (vo)

Derived terms

• proboscis monkey.