proboscis

English

Etymology

From Latin proboscis, from Ancient Greek προβοσκίς (proboskís, “elephant's trunk”) literally "means for taking food," from προ- (pro-, “before”) +‎ βόσκω (bóskō, “to nourish, feed”), from the root *bot, from which also comes βοτάνη (botánē, “grass, fodder”); more at botany.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɹoʊˈbɒsɪs/, /pɹoʊˈbɒskɪs/

Noun

proboscis (plural proboscises or proboscides)

1. (anatomy) An elongated tube from the head or connected to the mouth, of an animal.
   1. (entomology, malacology) The tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates like insects, worms and molluscs.
      • 2012, Brian Wiegmann, The Evolutionary Biology of Flies‎^[1], page 225:

        Unlike the proboscides of Lower brachyceran lineages, which are continuous with the head capsule and tend to dangle (Matsuda 1965), the proboscides of most cyclorrhaphan species are suspended by a membranous region and divided into three functional parts: the basiproboscis (rostrum), medioproboscis (haustellum), and distiproboscis (labellum), each of which is defined by internal muscles but also shares muscles with the other regions (Graham-Smith 1930; Lall and Davies 1971).

   2. The trunk of an elephant.
2. (informal, mildly humorous) A large or lengthy human nose.

Derived terms

• proboscis monkey
• proboscis worm

Translations

elongated tube

• Armenian: կնճիթ (hy) (knčitʻ)
• Catalan: probòscide f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 長鼻／长鼻 (zh) (chángbí), 长鼻 (zh) (chángbí), 吻 (zh) (wěn), 象鼻 (zh) (xiàngbí) (of an elephant)

• Czech: sosák (cs) m
• Dutch: slurf (nl)
• Finnish: imukärsä (fi), kärsä (fi) (of elephant)
• French: trompe (fr) f, proboscide (fr) f
• German: Rüssel (de) m
• Hebrew: חֵדֶק (he) m (ḥédeq)
• Ido: rostro (io)
• Irish: próboscas m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: proboscide (it) f
• Japanese: 吻 (ja) (ふん, fun)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: snabel m

  Nynorsk: snabel m

• Occitan: proboscide f
• Portuguese: probóscide (pt) f, probóscida f
• Russian: хобото́к (ru) m (xobotók), хо́бот (ru) m (xóbot) (of an elephant)
• Spanish: probóscide (es) f
• Swedish: snabel (sv) c
• Volapük: probod (vo), sugaprobod
• Welsh: trwnc (cy) m (of elephant), sugnydd m (of insects)

slang: a nose — see schnozzle

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Latin

Noun

proboscis f (genitive proboscidis); third declension

1. proboscis
2. snout
3. trunk

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	proboscis	proboscidēs
Genitive	proboscidis	proboscidum
Dative	proboscidī	proboscidibus
Accusative	proboscidem	proboscidēs
Ablative	proboscide	proboscidibus
Vocative	proboscis	proboscidēs