throat

Reading level: medium

Estimated CEFR level: A2 — Elementary

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the passage to the stomach and lungs; in the front part of the neck below the chin and above the collarbone
  2. noun an opening in the vamp of a shoe at the instep
  3. noun a passage resembling a throat in shape or function

Etymology

From Middle English throte, from Old English þrote, þrota, þrotu (“throat”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrotu, from Proto-Germanic *þrutō (“throat”), from Proto-Indo-European *trud- (“to swell, become stiff”). Cognate with Dutch strot (“throat”), German Drossel (“throttle, gorge of game (wild animals)”), Faroese troti (“swelling”), Icelandic þroti (“swelling”), Norwegian trut (“mouth”), Swedish trut.

In classic literature

Synonyms

pharynx

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