trachea

See also: Trachea

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *dʰreh₂gʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *dʰréh₂gʰ-us

Proto-Hellenic *tʰrākʰús

Ancient Greek τρᾱχεῖᾰ (trākheîă)bor.

Late Latin trāchīa

Medieval Latin trāchēader.

Middle English

English trachea

From late Middle English, from Medieval Latin trāchēa (“the windpipe”) (also borrowed as Late Latin trāchīa), from Ancient Greek τρᾱχεῖᾰ ᾰ̓ρτηρῐ́ᾱ (trākheîă ărtērĭ́ā, “windpipe, trachea”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /tɹəˈkiː.ə/, /ˈtɹeɪ.ki.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtɹeɪ.ki.ə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːə, -eɪkiə
• Hyphenation: tra‧che‧a

Noun

trachea (plural tracheae or (obsolete) tracheæ or tracheas)

1. (anatomy) A thin-walled, cartilaginous tube connecting the larynx to the bronchi.

   Synonym: windpipe

2. (botany, dated) The xylem vessel.

   Synonym: vessel

3. (entomology) One of the cuticle-lined primary tubes in the respiratory system of an insect, which extend throughout its body.

Derived terms

• laryngotrachea
• pseudotrachea
• tracheal
• trachealgia
• trachean
• tracheary
• tracheitis
• trachenchyma
• tracheophyte
• tracheoplasty
• tracheo-, trache-

Related terms

• tracheally
• tracheid
• tracheole

Translations

thin-walled, cartilaginous tube connecting the larynx to the bronchi

• Arabic: قَصَبَة هَوَائِيَّة f (qaṣaba hawāʔiyya)
• Armenian: շնչափող (hy) (šnčʻapʻoġ)
• Bashkir: боғарлаҡ/боғарҙаҡ (buğarlaq/buğarðaq)
• Basque: kontrako eztarri, trakea, zintzur-heste
• Bengali: হলকুম (bn) (holokum)
• Bulgarian: трахея (bg) f (traheja)
• Catalan: tràquea f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 氣管 / 气管 (hei³ gun²)

  Hokkien: 肺管 (zh-min-nan) (hì-kńg)

  Mandarin: 氣管 / 气管 (zh) (qìguǎn)

• Czech: průdušnice (cs) f
• Danish: luftrør (da)
• Dutch: trachee (de) (nl), trachea (nl) f, luchtpijp (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: traĥeo
• Finnish: henkitorvi (fi)
• French: trachée (fr) f
• Galician: tráquea (gl) f, gorgoiro m
• German: Trachea m, Luftröhre (de) f
• Greek: τραχεία (el) f (tracheía)

  Ancient Greek: ἀρτηρία f (artēría), τραχεῖα ἀρτηρία f (trakheîa artēría), βρόγχος m (brónkhos)

• Greenlandic: torluk
• Hungarian: légcső (hu)
• Ingrian: kulkkukerus, hookukerus
• Irish: píobán garbh m, traicé f, píobán m (familiar), aerchonair f
• Italian: trachea (it) f
• Japanese: 気管 (ja) (きかん, kikan)
• Kazakh: кеңірдек (keŋirdek)
• Khmer: បំពង់សួត (bɑmpʊəŋ suǝt), បំពង់ខ្យល់ (bɑmpʊəŋ kyɑl)
• Korean: 숨통 (ko) (sumtong), 기도(氣道) (ko) (gido), 기관(氣管) (ko) (gigwan), 숨구멍 (sumgumeong)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: borîhewa f

• Latin: trachia f
• Latvian: elpvads m, traheja f
• Lithuanian: kvėplė f
• Māori: pūkorokoro, arahau
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: luftrør n, vrangstrupe (no) m (when liquid or food gets in the trachea)

  Nynorsk: luftrøyr f or n

• Persian: نای (fa) (nāy)
• Plautdietsch: Loftrua n, Wintrua n
• Polish: tchawica (pl) f
• Portuguese: traqueia (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਸਾਹ ਨਾਲ਼ੀ f (sāh nāḷī)
• Russian: трахе́я (ru) f (traxéja), дыха́тельное го́рло n (dyxátelʹnoje górlo)
• Scottish Gaelic: sgòrnan m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ду̀шнӣк m, трахе́ја f

  Latin: dùšnīk (sh) m, trahéja (sh) f

• Slovene: sapnik (sl) m
• Spanish: tráquea (es) f
• Swedish: luftstrupe (sv)
• Tagalog: hihingahan
• Tamil: மூச்சுக்குழல் (ta) (mūccukkuḻal), மூச்சுக்குழாய் (mūccukkuḻāy), காற்றுக்குழல் (kāṟṟukkuḻal), காற்றுக்குழாய் (kāṟṟukkuḻāy)
• Tewa: huhuu
• Thai: หลอดลม (th) (lɔ̀ɔt-lom), ท่อลม
• Tibetan: གློ་སྦུབས (glo sbubs)
• Tok Pisin: mambu bilong nek
• Turkish: nefes borusu (tr), soluk borusu (tr), trake (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: بوغاز (boğaz)

• Vietnamese: khí quản (vi) (氣管)
• Volapük: bron (vo)
• Welsh: pibell wynt f, breuant m, tracea

See also

• esophagus
• gullet
• throat

References

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

Anagrams

• Tarache, atreach

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtraxɛa]

Noun

trachea f (relational adjective tracheální)

1. (anatomy) trachea

Declension

Declension of trachea (technical feminine in -ea)

	singular	plural
nominative	trachea	trachey
genitive	trachey	tracheí
dative	trachei	tracheám, tracheím
accusative	tracheu	trachey
vocative	tracheo	trachey
locative	trachei	tracheách, tracheích
instrumental	tracheou	tracheami

Further reading

• “trachea”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “trachea”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “trachea”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Italian

Etymology

From Latin trachia (“windpipe”), from Ancient Greek τραχεῖα (trakheîa, “windpipe”), feminine of τραχύς (trakhús, “rugged, rough”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /traˈkɛ.a/
• Rhymes: -ɛa
• Hyphenation: tra‧chè‧a

Noun

trachea f (plural trachee)

1. (anatomy) trachea, windpipe
2. (botany) trachea

Derived terms

• tracheale
• tracheide
• tracheite
• tracheo-
• tracheobronchite
• tracheoscopia
• tracheotomia

See also

• esofago
• gola

Latin

Etymology

From Late Latin trachia (“windpipe”), from Ancient Greek τρᾱχεῖα (trākheîa, “jagged, rugged, rough”), ellipsis of τρᾱχεῖα ᾰ̓ρτηρῐ́ᾱ (trākheîa ărtērĭ́ā, “rough artery”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [traːˈkʰeː.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [traˈkɛː.a]

Noun

trāchēa f (genitive trāchēae); first declension (Medieval Latin)

1. (anatomy) the windpipe, trachea

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	trāchēa	trāchēae
genitive	trāchēae	trāchēārum
dative	trāchēae	trāchēīs
accusative	trāchēam	trāchēās
ablative	trāchēā	trāchēīs
vocative	trāchēa	trāchēae

Descendants

• Middle English:
  • English: trachea
• → Norwegian Bokmål: trakea

Portuguese

Noun

trachea f (plural tracheas)

1. obsolete form of traqueia