oral
Pronunciation: /ˈɔː.ɹəl/
The English word “oral” has 11 meanings listed here.
adjective
- Relating to the mouth.
- Done or taken by the mouth.
- Pronounced by the voice resonating in the mouth, as the vowels in English.
- 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.
- Of, relating to, or characterized by personality traits of passive dependency and aggressiveness.
- Spoken rather than written.
- Relating to the transmission of information or literature by word of mouth.
- Using speech or the lips especially in teaching the deaf.
- Not having reached the stage of literacy.
noun
- A spoken test or examination, particularly in a language class.
- A physical examination of the mouth.
Etymology
PIE word *h₁óh₃s Early 17th century borrowing from Late Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“the mouth”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).
Keep exploring: in the interactive dictionary every word of a definition is a link. Open “oral” there
More English words
About this dictionary
The English dictionary on Glottosphere has 650,529 entries with a page. Browse the English dictionary.
Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.