nipple

English

Alternative forms

• neple, nypil (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier neple, nypil, *neble, believed to be a diminutive of nib, neb (“tip, point”), equivalent to nib +‎ -le.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɪp(ə)l/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪpəl

A woman's breasts, with the nipple indicated.

a pipe nipple ("connector")

spoke nipples

Noun

nipple (plural nipples)

1. (anatomy) The projection of a mammary gland from which, on female mammals, milk is secreted. [from 16th c.]
2. A mechanical device through which liquids or gases can be passed in a regulated manner. [from 16th c.]
3. An artificial nipple (definition 1) used for bottle-feeding infants. [from 17th c.]
4. Any small physical protrusion, such as the lumps on the F and J keys on computer keyboards.
5. Any small physical protrusion on an automotive, a machine part or any other part that fits into a groove on another part.
6. (now chiefly historical) A perforated segment that fits into the muzzle of a breech-loading gun, on which the percussion cap is fixed. [from 19th c.]
   • 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster 2014, p. 23:

     I could tell he didn't agree but he went to the corner and took up his squirrel gun, feeling the nipple for a percussion cap.

7. (chiefly US) A short tube threaded at both ends, used as a connector. [from 19th c.]
8. An internally threaded piece which holds a bicycle spoke in place on the rim. [from 20th c.]

   Turn the nipples on to the bicycle spokes only one turn, for each spoke on the new wheel all the way around until they are all snug, then check alignment.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:nipples
• (mammary gland, artificial mammary gland): teat
• (mammary gland): tit

Derived terms

• grease nipple
• nipple cactus
• nipple cripple
• nippled
• nipple gong
• nippleless
• nipplelike
• nipple shield
• nipplewort

Descendants

• → Dutch: nippel
• → German: Nippel
  • → Danish: nippel
• → Norwegian: nippel

Translations

projection of mammary gland

• Afrikaans: nippel
• Albanian: thithkë f
• Arabic: حَلَمَة f (ḥalama)
• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: պտուկ (hy) (ptuk), կրծքապտուկ (krckʻaptuk)
• Aromanian: gurgulj m or n
• Asturian: pezón (ast) m
• Azerbaijani: məmə, əmzik
• Basque: titiburo, erro
• Belarusian: сасо́к m (sasók)
• Bengali: স্তনবৃন্ত (stônbrintô)
• Breton: beg ar vronn (br) m
• Bulgarian: бо́зка (bg) f (bózka)
• Burmese: နို့သီးခေါင်း (my) (nui.si:hkaung:), နို့သီး (my) (nui.si:)
• Catalan: mugró (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 𢆡頭／𢆡头 (nin¹ tau⁴), 𢆡头 (nin¹ tau⁴) (colloquial), 乳頭／乳头 (jyu⁵ tau⁴), 乳头 (jyu⁵ tau⁴) (formal)

  Mandarin: 乳頭／乳头 (zh) (rǔtóu), 乳头 (zh) (rǔtóu), 奶頭／奶头 (zh) (nǎitóu), 奶头 (zh) (nǎitóu)

  Min Nan: 奶頭／奶头 (zh-min-nan) (ling-thâu, ni-thâu)

• Coptic: ⲭⲉⲗⲙⲓ f (khelmi), ϭⲓ m (ci)
• Crimean Tatar: emşek
• Czech: bradavka f, prsní bradavka f
• Danish: brystvorte c
• Dupaningan Agta: pugang
• Dutch: tepel (nl) m
• Erzya: потебря (poťebŕa)
• Esperanto: cico, mampinto (eo)
• Estonian: nibu
• Faroese: vørta f, bróstvørta f
• Finnish: nänni (fi), nisä (fi)
• French: mamelon (fr) m, téton (fr) m, tétin (fr) m
• Galician: teto (gl) m, mamila (gl) f, bico de teta m, bico do peito (gl) m
• Gallurese: capitùgnulu
• Georgian: დვრილი (dvrili), კერტი (ḳerṭi), ძუძუსთავი (ʒuʒustavi), ძუძუს თავი (ʒuʒus tavi)
• German: Nippel (de) m, Brustwarze (de) f
• Greek: ρώγα (el) f (róga) (1), θηλή (el) f (thilí) (formally)

  Ancient: θηλή f (thēlḗ)

• Hawaiian: maka waiū, maka
• Hebrew: פִּטְמָה (he) f (pitma)
• Hindi: चूची (hi) f (cūcī), चुचुक (hi) (cucuk)
• Hungarian: mellbimbó (hu)
• Icelandic: brjóstvarta f, geirvarta (is) f
• Ido: mamilo (io)
• Indonesian: pentil (id), puting susu (id)
• Interlingua: papilla
• Irish: sine f
• Italian: capezzolo (it) m
• Japanese: 乳首 (ちちくび, chichikubi), 乳頭 (にゅうとう, nyūtō), ニップル (nippuru)
• Kazakh: емшек (kk) (emşek)
• Khmer: បណ្ឌិកា (pandi’kaa) (formal), ក្បាលដោះ (kbaal dɑh)
• Korean: 젖꼭지 (ko) (jeotkkokji), 유두 (ko) (yudu), 젖 (ko) (jeot)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Kurdish: ,
• Kyrgyz: эмчек (ky) (emcek)
• Lao: ຫົວນົມ (hūa nom)
• Latin: papilla f
• Latvian: krūts zirnītis m
• Lithuanian: (human) spenẽlis m, (non-human) spenys
• Macedonian: брада́вица f (bradávica), пу́пка f (púpka)
• Malay: dot
• Maltese: beżżula f
• Manchu: ᡨᡠ᠋ᠮᡳᡥᠠ (tumiha)
• Maori: kōmata
• Mongolian: хөхний товч (xöxnii tovč), хөхний толгой (xöxnii tolgoj)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brystvorte m or f, patte (no) m, (technical) nippel m

  Nynorsk: brystvorte f, patte m or f, (technical) nippel m

• Old English: delu f
• Persian: نوک پستان (nok-e pestân)
• Pitjantjatjara: ipi kaḻka, ipi mulya
• Polish: brodawka sutkowa (pl) f
• Portuguese: mamilo (pt) m
• Romanian: sfârc (ro) n, gurgui (ro) n, țâță (ro) f, mamelon (ro)
• Romansch: chavadè m, cavadi m, tgavadi m, tgavadel m, chavdè m, mamilla f
• Russian: сосо́к (ru) m (sosók), (artificial) со́ска (ru) f (sóska)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: cimingioni, semingioni

• Sassarese: cabigiu
• Scottish Gaelic: sine f, ceann-na-cìche m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: сисак m, брадавица f

  Roman: sisak (sh) m, bradavica (sh) f

• Slovak: prsná bradavka f, bradavka (sk) f
• Slovene: prsna bradavica (sl) f, bradavica (sl) f
• Spanish: pezón (es) m
• Swedish: bröstvårta (sv) c, (medical) nippel (sv) c, (of animals) spene (sv) c
• Tagalog: utong
• Tajik: нӯги пистон (nügi piston)
• Tatar: имчәк (tt) (imçäk)
• Thai: หัวนม (th) (hǔua-nom)
• Tibetan: ནུ་རྡོག (nu rdog)
• Turkish: meme başı (tr), meme ucu, göğüs ucu şişe emziği, emzik (tr)
• Turkmen: emjek
• Ukrainian: сосо́к m (sosók)
• Urdu: چوچی f (cūcī)
• Uyghur: ئەمچەك (emchek)
• Uzbek: emchak (uz)
• Vietnamese: núm vú
• Volapük: blötatät (vo)
• Walloon: mamuron (wa) m, teton m
• Wolof: cus
• Yiddish: אָפּל m (opl)

device through which liquids or gases can be passed in a regulated manner

• Dutch: nippel (nl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

artificial nipple for bottle feeding

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 奶嘴 (zh) (nǎizuǐ)

• Dutch: speen (nl) m
• Erzya: потебря (poťebŕa)
• Esperanto: cicumo (eo)
• Finnish: tutti (fi)
• French: tétine (fr) f
• Greek: θηλή (el) f (thilí)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: vicemamilo (io)
• Italian: tettarella f
• Maori: titi
• Portuguese: bico (pt) m, bico de mamadeira m
• Romanian: biberon (ro) n, tetină (ro) f
• Russian: со́ска (ru) f (sóska)
• Swedish: napp (sv) c, dinapp c

small protrusion on machinery that fits into a groove

• Dutch: nippel (nl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

short threaded connecting tube

• Dutch: nippel (nl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

piece to connect a bicycle spoke to the rim

• Dutch: nippel (nl) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Verb

1. (transitive) To fit (a baby's bottle, etc.) with a nipple.
2. (transitive) To give one's nipple to (a baby) to allow breastfeeding.

Anagrams

• lippen