nasal

From Middle English, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from nāsus (“the nose”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of nasalis.

• enPR: nā'zəl IPA^(key): /ˈneɪ.zəl/, [ˈneɪ.zl̩]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪzəl

nasal (comparative more nasal, superlative most nasal)

1. (anatomy, relational) Of or pertaining to the nose or to the nasion.

   Synonyms: nosely, nosey

   • 2013 March, Nancy Langston, “Mining the Boreal North”, in American Scientist‎^[1], volume 101, number 2, page 98:

     Reindeer are well suited to the taiga’s frigid winters. They can maintain a thermogradient between body core and the environment of up to 100 degrees, in part because of insulation provided by their fur, and in part because of counter-current vascular heat exchange systems in their legs and nasal passages.

2. (phonetics) Having a sound imparted by means of the nose; and specifically, made by lowering the soft palate, in some cases with closure of the oral passage, the voice thus issuing (wholly or partially) through the nose, as in the consonants m, n, ng.

   Hypernyms: sonorant, resonant

   nasal vowel

3. (phonetics) Characterized by resonance in the nasal passage.

   nasal utterance

   • 2016, A.K. Brown, Jumpstart (Champagne Universe Series: Book 1), page 2:

     "Are you sure you're OK?" she said with a nasal Australian accent.

4. (music) Sharp, penetrating.

nasal (plural nasals)

1. (medicine, archaic) A medicine that operates through the nose; an errhine.
2. (phonetics) Ellipsis of nasal consonant.

   Hyponym: velar nasal

3. (phonetics) Ellipsis of nasal vowel.
4. (historical) The part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard.
   • 1909, Charles Henry Ashdown, European Arms & Armor, page 78:

     The nasal continued in use until about 1140, when it was generally discarded, but isolated examples may be found in every succeeding century down to the seventeenth.

   • 1999, George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam Books, published 2011, page 463:

     Rorge had donned a black halfhelm with a broad iron nasal that made it hard to see that he did not have a nose.

5. (anatomy) Ellipsis of nasal bone.
6. (zootomy) A plate, or scale, on the nose of a fish, etc.

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

• -salan, Alans, Anals, NALSA, alans, anals, nalas

• IPA^(key): /naˈsal/ [naˈsal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: na‧sal

nasal (epicene, plural nasales)

1. nasal

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [nəˈzal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [naˈzal]

nasal m or f (masculine and feminine plural nasals)

1. nasal

• nasalment

Borrowed from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from Latin nāsus (“nose”).

• IPA^(key): /na.zal/

• Audio:

  (file)

nasal (feminine nasale, masculine plural nasaux, feminine plural nasales)

1. nasal
2. (phonetics, phonology) nasal

• os nasal

• “nasal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• IPA^(key): /naˈsal/ [naˈs̺ɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: na‧sal

nasal m or f (plural nasais)

1. nasal

• nasalizar

• “nasal”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

From Latin nasalis.

• IPA^(key): /naˈzaːl/

• Audio:

  (file)

nasal (strong nominative masculine singular nasaler, not comparable)

1. nasal

• “nasal” in Duden online
• “nasal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

nasal (not comparable)

1. nasal

• IPA^(key): /naˈzal/
• Rhymes: -al

nasal

1. nasal

Learned borrowing from Latin nāsālis.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: na‧sal

nasal m or f (plural nasais, not comparable)

1. nasal

• nasalmente

nasal f (plural nasais)

1. nasal consonant

nasal m (plural nasais)

1. nasal bone

Borrowed from Late Latin nāsālis, from Latin nāsus.

• IPA^(key): /naˈsal/ [naˈsal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: na‧sal

nasal m or f (masculine and feminine plural nasales)

1. nasal

nasal f (plural nasales)

1. nasal, nasal consonant

• “nasal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

nasal (comparative nasalare, superlative nasalast)

1. (anatomy) nasal
2. (phonetics) nasal
3. nasal (having a nasal tone)

   en nasal röst

   a nasal voice

nasal c

1. a nasal (nasal consonant, nasal vowel)

• nasal in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• nasal in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• nasal in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)