vibrissae

Noun

vibrissa (plural vibrissae)

1. Any of the tactile whiskers on the nose of an animal such as a cat.
   • There are also long hairs inside each ear and sometimes on its tip, and about a dozen very long and strong hairs—the whiskers or vibrissæ— are placed on each upper lip.1881, St George Jackson Mivart, The Cat, London: Murray, page 14
2. Any similar feather near the mouth of some birds.
3. (in plural) A thick hair found inside the nostrils of humans and other mammals.
   • The vibrissae are coarse hairs whose follicles are located just within the nasal meatus. […] Vibrissae are present in most mammals, but their innervation and role in sensory function appears to be less pronounced in humans.2012, David W. Kennedy, Peter H. Hwang, editors, Rhinology: Diseases of the Nose, Sinuses, and Skull Base, Thieme, →ISBN

   Synonyms:

   nose hair