uvula

See also: Uvula and úvula

English

WOTD – 4 November 2008

Uvula

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin ūvula (“little grape”), diminutive of Latin ūva (“grape”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjuːv.jʊ.lə/
• IPA^(key): /ˈjuːv.jə.lə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

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• Homophone: uvular (in non-rhotic accents)

Noun

uvula (plural uvulas or uvulae or uvulæ)

1. (anatomy) The fleshy appendage that hangs from the back of the palate, that closes the nasopharynx during swallowing.
2. (anatomy) The slight elevation in the mucous membrane immediately behind the internal urethral orifice of the urinary bladder, caused by the middle lobe of the prostate.
3. (music) An object so suspended inside a bell that it may hit the bell and cause it to ring; a clapper.

Usage notes

• The Oxford English Dictionary (second edition, 1989) marks this word as not naturalized in English.

Synonyms

• (appendage hanging from the palate): palatine uvula, tonsils, staphyle

Derived terms

Derived terms

• uvular
• uvulatome, uvulotome

• uvulatomy, uvulotomy
• uvulitis

Translations

appendage that hangs from the palate

• Adyghe: бзэгужъый (bzɛgʷuẑəj)
• Arabic: لَهَاة f (lahāh)

  Egyptian Arabic: لهاة f (laha)

• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: լեզվակ (hy) (lezvak)
• Asturian: campanín m
• Azerbaijani: dilçək
• Belarusian: язычо́к m (jazyčók)
• Breton: hugenn
• Bulgarian: мъже́ц m (mǎžéc)
• Catalan: úvula (ca) f, llengüeta (ca) f, neulella (ca) f, garganxó (ca) m
• Central Melanau: aneak tengad
• Cherokee: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 懸雍垂 (zh) (xuányōngchuí), 悬雍垂 (zh) (xuányōngchuí), 小舌 (zh) (xiǎoshé), 小舌兒／小舌儿 (zh) (xiǎoshér), 小舌儿 (zh) (xiǎoshér)

• Czech: čípek (cs) m
• Danish: drøbel (da) c
• Dutch: huig (nl)
• Esperanto: uvulo
• Estonian: kurgunibu
• Faroese: úlvsur m, úlvur m
• Finnish: kitakieleke (fi)
• French: luette (fr) f, uvule (fr) f, uvula (fr) f
• Galician: úvula f
• Georgian: ენის კლიტე (enis ḳliṭe)
• German: Gaumenzäpfchen n, Uvula (de) f
• Greek: σταφυλή (el) f (stafylí)

  Ancient: γαργαρεών m (gargareṓn)

• Gujarati: પડજીભ (paḍjībh)
• Hebrew: ענבל (he) (in'bal)
• Hindi: अलिजिह्वा (hi) (alijihvā)
• Hungarian: nyelvcsap (hu), uvula (hu), ínyvitorla
• Icelandic: úfur (is) m
• Ido: uvulo (io)
• Indonesian: anak lidah (id), anak tekak (id), uvula (id)
• Iranun: mananalu
• Irish: sine siain f
• Italian: ugola (it) f
• Japanese: 口蓋垂 (こうがいすい, kōgaisui), 懸壅垂 (けんようすい, ken'yōsui) (rare), のどちんこ (nodochinko)
• Kazakh: тілше (tılşe)
• Khmer: កន្លើត (km) (kɑnlaət)
• Kimaragang: langguk
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 목젖 (ko) (mokjeot)
• Kurdish:
• Lotud: landuk, angguk-angguk
• Macedonian: у́вула (úvula)
• Malay: anak lidah, anak tekak, uvula
• Manchu: ᡳᠯᠮᠠᡥᠠ (ilmaha)
• Maori: miramira
• Navajo: adáziz
• Norwegian: drøvel (no)
• Occitan: uvula f, uèla f, luseta (oc) f
• Persian: ملازه (fa) (malāze), زبان کوچک (zābān-e-kucak)
• Polish: języczek (pl) m
• Portuguese: úvula (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਕਾਂ (pa) m (kā̃)
• Romanian: uvulă (ro) f
• Romansch: please add this translation if you can
• Rungus: llangguk
• Russian: язычо́к (ru) m (jazyčók), нёбный язычо́к m (njóbnyj jazyčók), у́вула f (úvula), нёбная заве́са f (njóbnaja zavésa)
• Saanich: MELḰ
• Scottish Gaelic: cìoch-shlugain f
• Serbo-Croatian: ȕvula (sh) f, увула f
• Slovak: čapík m
• Slovene: uvula f
• Spanish: úvula (es) f, campanilla (es) f
• Swahili: kilimi
• Swedish: gomspene (sv) c
• Tagal Murut: taruk tantalanan
• Tagalog: kuntil, tilao
• Tamil: please add this translation if you can
• Telugu: చిరునాలుక (te) (cirunāluka), కొండనాలుక (te) (koṇḍanāluka)
• Thai: ลิ้นไก่ (lín gài)
• Timugon Murut: taruk tantalanan
• Turkish: küçük dil (tr)
• Ukrainian: язичо́к (uk) m (jazyčók)
• Urdu: please add this translation if you can
• Uyghur: كىچىك تىل (kichik til)
• Vietnamese: lưỡi gà (vi)
• Volapük: lüät
• Welsh: tafodig m, tafod bach m
• West Coast Bajau: pegad
• Westrobothnian:
• Yiddish: please add this translation if you can
• Zhuang: linxgaeq

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French

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Late Latin ūvula (“small grape”), diminutive of Latin ūva. Doublet of uvule, another borrowing.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y.vy.la/

Noun

uvula f (plural uvulas)

1. uvula, palatine uvula

Synonyms

• luette
• uvule

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Malay

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Late Latin ūvula (“little grape”), diminutive of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin ūva (“grape”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uvula/

Noun

uvula (Jawi spelling اوۏولا, plural uvula-uvula, informal 1st possessive uvulaku, 2nd possessive uvulamu, 3rd possessive uvulanya)

1. (anatomy) Uvula (appendage that hangs from the palate)

Synonyms

• anak lidah
• anak tekak