uvula

See also: Uvula, and úvula

English

WOTD – 4 November 2008

Uvula

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjuː.vjʊl.ə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈju.vjəl.ə/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Homophone: uvular (non-rhotic)

Noun

uvula (plural uvulae or uvulas or (obsolete) uvulæ)

1. (anatomy) Ellipsis of palatine uvula.: the fleshy appendage that hangs from the back of the soft palate, that closes the nasopharynx during swallowing

   Synonym: staphyle

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.

Derived terms

• uvular (adjective)
• uvulatome
• uvulatomy
• uvulo-, uvul-

Translations

appendage that hangs from the palate

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

  Egyptian Arabic: لغلوغة f (laḡlūḡa)

• Aragonese: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: լեզվակ (hy) (lezvak)
• Assamese: আলজিভা (alzibha)
• Asturian: campanín m
• Azerbaijani: dilçək
• Belarusian: язычо́к m (jazyčók)
• Breton: hugenn f, hogedenn m
• 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), 小舌 (zh) (xiǎoshé)

• 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, campaíña f, pinguel m, galiño m, galillo m, pingallón m
• Georgian: ენის კლიტე (enis ḳliṭe), ნაქი (naki), სასის ნაქი (sasis naki)
• German: Gaumenzäpfchen n, Uvula (de) f
• Greek: σταφυλή (el) f (stafylí)

  Ancient: γαργαρεών m (gargareṓn)

• Gujarati: પડજીભ (paḍjībh)
• Hebrew: ענבל (he) (inbál)
• Hindi: अलिजिह्वा (hi) (alijihvā)
• Hungarian: nyelvcsap (hu), uvula (hu), ínyvitorla (hu)
• 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 (ja) (こうがいすい, kōgaisui), 懸壅垂 (ja) (けんようすい, ken'yōsui) (rare), のどちんこ (ja) (nodochinko)
• Kazakh: тілше (tılşe)
• Khmer: កន្លើត (km) (kɑnlaət)
• Kimaragang: langguk
• Korean: 목젖 (ko) (mokjeot)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: zimanok (ku) m

• Lotud: landuk, angguk-angguk
• Macedonian: у́вула (úvula)
• Malay: anak lidah (ms), anak tekak, uvula (ms)
• Manchu: ᡳᠯᠮᠠᡥᠠ (ilmaha)
• Maori: miramira, toke (mi)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хүүхэн хэл (xüüxen xel)

• Navajo: adáziz
• Norwegian: drøvel (no)
• Occitan: uvula f, uèla f, luseta (oc) f
• Persian: ملازه (fa) (malâze), زبان کوچک (zabân-e kučak)
• Polish: języczek (pl) m
• Portuguese: úvula (pt) f
• Punjabi: ਕਾਂ (pa) m (kā̃)
• Romanian: uvulă (ro) f, omușor (ro) m
• 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, gallillo m, galillo m
• Swahili: kilimi
• Swedish: gomspene (sv) c, tungspene 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 (th) (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
• West Frisian: hûch
• Yiddish: אוּוווּלע f (uvule)
• Zhuang: linxgaeq

References

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

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. (anatomy) uvula, palatine uvula

   Synonyms: luette, uvule

Latin

Etymology

From ūva (“a grape”) +‎ -ula (“diminutive suffix”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈuː.u̯u.la/, [ˈuːu̯ʊɫ̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈu.vu.la/, [ˈuːvulä]

Noun

ūvula f (genitive ūvulae); first declension (Late Latin)

1. diminutive of ūva.

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	ūvula	ūvulae
genitive	ūvulae	ūvulārum
dative	ūvulae	ūvulīs
accusative	ūvulam	ūvulās
ablative	ūvulā	ūvulīs
vocative	ūvula	ūvulae

Descendants

• → Catalan: úvula
• → English: uvula
• → French: uvula, uvule
• → Galician: úvula
• → German: Uvula
• → Hungarian: uvula
• Italian: ugola
• → Indonesian: uvula
• → Malay: uvula
• → Macedonian: у́вула (úvula)
• → Occitan: uvula
• → Portuguese: úvula
• → Romanian: uvulă
• → Russian: у́вула (úvula)
• → Serbo-Croatian: ȕvula, увула
• Sicilian: ùvula
• → Slovene: uvula
• → Spanish: úvula
• → Yiddish: אוּוווּלע (uvule)

Malay

Etymology

From Late Latin ūvula (“little grape”), diminutive of 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