nasal

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   sounding as if the nose were pinched

   A whining nasal voice.

2. 2
   adj

   of or in or relating to the nose

   Nasal passages.

3. 3
   adj

   Of or pertaining to the nose or to the nasion.

   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.

4. 4
   adj

   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.

   Nasal vowel.

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

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