oral

See also: Oral, orał, and орал

English

Etymology

Early 17th century borrowing from Late Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“the mouth”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔː.ɹəl/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔɹəl/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Homophone: aural
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəl
• IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹ.əl/
• enPR: ōrʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈo(ː)ɹəl/

Adjective

oral (not comparable)

1. (relational) Relating to the mouth.

   Synonym: (rare) mouthly

   oral hygiene

   oral sex

   1. (pharmacology) Done or taken by the mouth.
   2. (phonetics, of a speech sound) Pronounced by the voice resonating in the mouth, as the vowels in English.
   3. (psychoanalysis, in Freudian theory) Relating to or denoting a stage of infantile psychosexual development during which libidinal gratification is derived from intake (as of food), by sucking, and later by biting.
   4. Of, relating to, or characterized by personality traits of passive dependency and aggressiveness.
2. (relational) Spoken rather than written.

   Synonyms: spoken, verbal

   Antonym: written

   an oral presentation

   an oral French exam

   1. Relating to the transmission of information or literature by word of mouth.
   2. Using speech or the lips especially in teaching the deaf.
   3. (sociolinguistics, of a society) Not having reached the stage of literacy.

Derived terms

• aboral
• adoral
• circumoral
• endoral
• extraoral
• fecal-oral
• hyperoral
• infraoral
• juxtaoral
• naso-oral, nasoral
• nonoral
• oral argument
• oral availability
• oral candidiasis
• oral cavity
• oral glucose
• oral gratification
• oral history
• oral hygiene
• oralism
• oralist
• orality
• oralize, oralise
• oral lore
• orally
• oralmost
• oral mucositis
• oralnasal
• oralness
• oral sex
• oral stage
• oral test
• oral tradition
• oral vowel
• paroral
• perioral
• peroral
• pharyngo-oral
• postoral, post-oral
• preoral, pre-oral
• suboral
• supraoral
• transoral

 

Related terms

• oracy
• orature

Translations

relating to the mouth

• Afrikaans: oraal
• Albanian: gojor (sq), oral
• Arabic: فَمَوِيّ (famawiyy)
• Armenian: բերանի (berani), բերանային (hy) (beranayin)
• Belarusian: ро́тавы (rótavy), ара́льны (arálʹny)
• Bulgarian: устен (bg) (usten), на устата (na ustata)
• Catalan: oral (ca), bucal (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 口的 (zh) (kǒu de), 口腔的 (zh) (kǒuqiāng de)

• Czech: ústní (cs), orální (cs)
• Dutch: mondelijk, oraal (nl)
• Esperanto: buŝa
• Finnish: suu- (fi), suun, oraalinen
• French: oral, buccal (fr)
• Galician: oral (gl) m or f
• Georgian: ორალური (oraluri)
• German: oral (de)
• Greek: στοματικός (el) (stomatikós)
• Hungarian: orális (hu) (primarily used in the sexual sense), száj- (hu) (as in szájrák, szájüreg etc.)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Indonesian: lisan (id)
• Interlingua: oral
• Italian: orale (it)
• Japanese: 口頭の (ja) (こうとうの, kōtō no)
• Korean: 구두의 (ko) (gudu-ui), 입의 (ib-ui)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: devkî (ku)

• Lithuanian: oralinis
• Navajo: hazééʼdę́ę́ʼ
• Persian: دهانی (fa) (dahâni)
• Polish: ustny (pl) m
• Portuguese: oral (pt)
• Russian: ротово́й (ru) (rotovój), ора́льный (ru) (orálʹnyj)
• Samogitian: oralėnės
• Slovak: ústný, orálny (sk)
• Spanish: oral (es)
• Swedish: muntlig (sv)
• Tagalog: bunganga
• Ukrainian: ротови́й (rotovýj), ора́льний (orálʹnyj)

taken by the mouth

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 口服 (zh) (kǒufú)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

spoken

• Afrikaans: oraal
• Albanian: gojor (sq), falur
• Arabic: شَفَهِيّ (šafahiyy), شَفَوِيّ (šafawiyy), مَنْطُوق (manṭūq)
• Armenian: բանավոր (hy) (banavor)
• Azerbaijani: şifahi (az)
• Belarusian: ву́сны (vúsny)
• Bulgarian: у́стен (bg) (ústen), словесен (bg) (slovesen)
• Catalan: oral (ca), verbal (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 口頭／口头 (zh) (kǒutóu), 口头 (zh) (kǒutóu), 口語的／口语的 (zh), 口语的 (zh) (kǒuyǔ de), 口述的 (zh) (kǒushù de)

• Czech: ústní (cs)
• Dutch: oraal (nl)
• Esperanto: parola (eo)
• Finnish: suullinen (fi)
• French: oral (fr)
• Galician: oral (gl) m or f
• Georgian: ზეპირი (zeṗiri), სიტყვიერი (siṭq̇vieri)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• German: mündlich (de)
• Greek: προφορικός (el) (proforikós)
• Hungarian: szóbeli (hu)
• Icelandic: munnlegur (is)
• Macedonian: устен (usten)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: muntlig (no)

  Nynorsk: munnleg

• Polish: ustny (pl)
• Portuguese: oral (pt)
• Russian: у́стный (ru) (ústnyj)
• Sanskrit: वाचिक (sa) (vācika)
• Slovak: ústny (sk)
• Spanish: oral (es)
• Swedish: muntlig (sv)
• Turkish: sözlü (tr)
• Ukrainian: у́сний (úsnyj)

Noun

oral (plural orals)

1. (countable) A spoken test or examination, particularly in a language class.

   We've got our Spanish oral tomorrow.

2. (countable, usually in the plural) A physical examination of the mouth.
3. (uncountable, informal) Ellipsis of oral sex..

   I gave my boyfriend oral for the first time on his birthday.

4. (bodybuilding, countable) Ellipsis of oral steroid..

See also

• aural

References

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

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• -arol, Arlo, LoRa, Loar, Lora, Orla

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch overal, from Middle Dutch overal, from Old Dutch overal.

Adverb

oral

1. everywhere

Alternative forms

• orals
• oralste, oralster (nonstandard)

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [uˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [oˈɾal]

Adjective

oral m or f (masculine and feminine plural orals)

1. oral

Derived terms

• oralitat
• oralment

Further reading

• “oral” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “oral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “oral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “oral” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈoral]

Verb

oral

1. masculine singular past participle of orat

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“mouth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.ʁal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: orale, orales

Adjective

oral (feminine orale, masculine plural oraux, feminine plural orales)

1. oral

Derived terms

• sexe oral
• stade oral

Noun

oral m (plural oraux)

1. an oral exam, a viva, a viva voce

Further reading

• “oral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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German

Etymology

From Latin os, oris (“mouth”) + -al.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

oral (strong nominative masculine singular oraler, not comparable)

1. (relational) mouth; oral

Declension

Positive forms of oral (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist oral	sie ist oral	es ist oral	sie sind oral
strong declension (without article)	nominative	oraler	orale	orales	orale
	genitive	oralen	oraler	oralen	oraler
	dative	oralem	oraler	oralem	oralen
	accusative	oralen	orale	orales	orale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der orale	die orale	das orale	die oralen
	genitive	des oralen	der oralen	des oralen	der oralen
	dative	dem oralen	der oralen	dem oralen	den oralen
	accusative	den oralen	die orale	das orale	die oralen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein oraler	eine orale	ein orales	(keine) oralen
	genitive	eines oralen	einer oralen	eines oralen	(keiner) oralen
	dative	einem oralen	einer oralen	einem oralen	(keinen) oralen
	accusative	einen oralen	eine orale	ein orales	(keine) oralen

Further reading

• “oral” in Duden online
• “oral” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

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Interlingua

Adjective

oral (not comparable)

1. oral (pertaining to the mouth)

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Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin oralis.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /oˈɾaw/ [oˈɾaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈɾal/ [ɔˈɾaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈɾal/ [ɔˈɾaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ɔˈɾa.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: o‧ral

Adjective

oral m or f (plural orais)

1. oral

Derived terms

• oralidade
• oralmente

Noun

oral f (plural orais)

1. an oral exam

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Romanian

Etymology

From French oral.

Adjective

oral m or n (feminine singular orală, masculine plural orali, feminine and neuter plural orale)

1. oral

Declension

Declension of oral

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	oral		orală	orali	orale
	definite	oralul		orala	oralii	oralele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	oral		orale	orali	orale
	definite	oralului		oralei	oralilor	oralelor

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Serbo-Croatian

Noun

oral m (Cyrillic spelling орал)

1. Obsolete spelling of orao.

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin os, oris (“mouth”) + -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈɾal/ [oˈɾal]

Adjective

oral m or f (masculine and feminine plural orales)

1. oral

Derived terms

• oralmente
• sexo oral

 

Further reading

• “oral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014