epiglottis
/ˌɛp.ɪˈɡlɒt.ɪs/US/ˌɛp.ɪˈɡlɑ.tɪs/
epiglottis noun: a cartilaginous organ in the throat of terrestrial vertebrates covering the glottis when swallowing to prevent food and liquid from entering the trachea, and in Homo sapiens also a speech organ.
Noun
epiglottis (plural epiglottises or epiglottides)
- A cartilaginous organ in the throat of terrestrial vertebrates covering the glottis when swallowing to prevent food and liquid from entering the trachea, and in Homo sapiens also a speech organ.
- My epiglottis is full of bees!2004, Top Gear, season 5, episode 9, Jeremy Clarkson (actor)
epiglottis meaning in Tamil, Bengali, Kannada and Tagalog
epiglottis in Tamil
- குரல்வளை மூடு, குரல் வளைமூடி, மூச்சுக்குழல் துவக்கப்பகுதி இலை அமைப்பு, மூச்சுக்குழல் வாய்மூடி, குரல்வளை மூடி, மிடற்றுமேவி
epiglottis in Bengali
- epiglottis
- অগ্রজিহ্বা ogrojiubha
epiglottis in Kannada
- ಕಿರುನಾಲಿಗೆ, ಉಪಜಿಹ್ವೆ
epiglottis in Tagalog
- cartilaginous organ
- harang-pasadila
More languagesFewer languages
- epiglottis in Arabic
- لِسَان اَلْمِزْمَار lisān al-mizmār
- epiglottis in Indonesian
- epiglotis
- epiglottis in Thai
- ฝากล่องเสียง fǎa-glɔ̀ng-sǐiang
- epiglottis in Vietnamese
- nắp họng
Forms of epiglottis
| plural | epiglottises |
|---|---|
| plural | epiglottides |
Origin of epiglottis
Borrowed from New Latin epiglōttis, from Ancient Greek ἐπῐγλωττῐ́ς (epĭglōttĭ́s, “valve covering the larynx”), from ἐπῐ- (epĭ-, “upon, over”) + γλωττῐ́ς (glōttĭ́s, “glottis, mouth of the windpipe”); equivalent to epi- (“upon; above”) + glottis.
Words formed from epiglottis
Words that rhyme with epiglottis
Questions about epiglottis
- What does epiglottis mean?
- Epiglottis means a cartilaginous organ in the throat of terrestrial vertebrates covering the glottis when swallowing to prevent food and liquid from entering the trachea, and in Homo sapiens also a speech organ.
- What is epiglottis in Tamil?
- Epiglottis in Tamil is குரல்வளை மூடு, குரல் வளைமூடி, மூச்சுக்குழல் துவக்கப்பகுதி இலை அமைப்பு. See Epiglottis meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is epiglottis?
- Epiglottis is a noun.
- How do you pronounce epiglottis?
- Epiglottis is pronounced /ˌɛp.ɪˈɡlɒt.ɪs/ (UK).
- What is the plural of epiglottis?
- The plural of epiglottis is epiglottises.
Words near epiglottis in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: epiglottis (page history and authors); epiglottis (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); অগ্রজিহ্বা (Bengali) (page history and authors); epiglottis (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-epiglottis.wav.
Cite this entry: “epiglottis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/epiglottis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.