ENGLISH
REFERENCE

nipple

n. countable
B2 Upper Intermediate US //ˈnɪpəɫ// UK //nˈɪpəl// nip·ple Archaic Humorous

n. the small, dark part in the middle of a person's chest. It is the part of the body that babies drink milk from.

n. the small projection in the centre of each breast or mammary gland, containing the outlets of the milk ducts. In males, it remains vestigial and non-functional.


SIMPLE

The baby latched onto the nipple to feed.

CONTEXTUAL

He felt a sharp chill through his thin shirt that made his nipples harden instantly.

COMPLEX

In mammalian anatomy, the nipple serves as the primary conduit for the delivery of nutrient-rich milk from the mother to the offspring during the neonatal period.

Synonyms
Origin

From earlier neple, nypil, neble, believed to be a diminutive of nib, neb (“tip, point”), equivalent to nib + -le. Compare Old English nypel (“elephant trunk”), formed analogously as "a protuberance from one's neb" .

Usage

Commonly used in both medical and everyday contexts; in technical computing contexts, it can refer to a small joystick on a laptop keyboard.

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