oral

PIE word
*h₁óh₃s

Early 17th century borrowing from Late Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“the mouth”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔː.ɹəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɹəl/
• (East Coast dialect) IPA^(key): /ˈɑ.ɹəl/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈoː.ɹəl/
• Homophone: aural
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəl
• (without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: ōrʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈo(ː)ɹəl/
• Rhymes: -ɒɹəl

oral (not comparable)

1. (relational) Relating to the mouth.

   Synonym: (rare) mouthly

   oral hygiene

   oral sex

   1. (pharmacology) Done or taken by the mouth.
   2. (phonetics, of a speech sound) Pronounced by the voice resonating in the mouth, as the vowels in English.
   3. (psychoanalysis, in Freudian theory) Relating to or denoting a stage of infantile psychosexual development during which libidinal gratification is derived from intake (as of food), by sucking, and later by biting.
   4. Of, relating to, or characterized by personality traits of passive dependency and aggressiveness.
2. (relational) Spoken rather than written.

   Synonyms: spoken, verbal

   Antonym: written

   an oral presentation

   an oral French exam

   1. Relating to the transmission of information or literature by word of mouth.
   2. Using speech or the lips especially in teaching the deaf.
   3. (sociolinguistics, of a society) Not having reached the stage of literacy.

• oracy
• orature

oral (countable and uncountable, plural orals)

1. (countable) A spoken test or examination, particularly in a language class.

   We've got our Spanish oral tomorrow.

2. (countable, usually in the plural) A physical examination of the mouth.
3. (uncountable, informal) Ellipsis of oral sex.

   I gave my boyfriend oral for the first time on his birthday.

4. (bodybuilding, countable) Ellipsis of oral steroid.

• aural

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

• “oral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “oral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

• -arol, Arlo, LoRa, Loar, Lora, Orla

From Dutch overal, from Middle Dutch overal, from Old Dutch overal.

oral

1. everywhere

• orals
• oralste, oralster (nonstandard)

oral (epicene, plural orales)

1. oral

• IPA^(key): (Central) [uˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [oˈɾal]

oral m or f (masculine and feminine plural orals)

1. oral

• oralitat
• oralment

• “oral”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “oral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “oral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “oral” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• IPA^(key): [ˈoral]

oral

1. masculine singular past active participle of orat

Borrowed from Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“mouth”).

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.ʁal/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: orale, orales

oral (feminine orale, masculine plural oraux, feminine plural orales)

1. oral

• sexe oral
• stade oral

oral m (plural oraux)

1. an oral exam, a viva, a viva voce

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

From Latin os, oris (“mouth”) + -al.

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

oral (strong nominative masculine singular oraler, not comparable)

1. (relational) mouth;

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

Ultimately derived from Late Latin ōrālis, perhaps through Dutch oraal.

• IPA^(key): /ˈoral/
• Rhymes: -oral
• Hyphenation: o‧ral

oral (generally not comparable)

1. oral:
   1. relating to the mouth
   2. spoken rather than written

oral (not comparable)

1. oral (pertaining to the mouth)

Back-formation from oralny.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ral/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔral
• Syllabification: o‧ral

oral m inan

1. (colloquial, vulgar) oral (oral sex)

   Coordinate term: anal

• oral in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Learned borrowing from Latin ōrālis.

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: o‧ral

oral m or f (plural orais)

1. oral

• oralidade
• oralmente

oral f (plural orais)

1. an oral exam

Borrowed from French oral.

oral m or n (feminine singular orală, masculine plural orali, feminine and neuter plural orale)

1. oral

oral m anim (Cyrillic spelling орал)

1. obsolete spelling of orao

Borrowed from Latin ōrālis.

• IPA^(key): /oˈɾal/ [oˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: o‧ral

oral m or f (masculine and feminine plural orales)

1. oral

• “oral”, 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

oral (not comparable)

1. oral (related to the mouth)

• oralsex (“oral sex”)

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