hypoglossal
/ˌhaɪ.pəˈɡlɑs.əl/adjective, noun
hypoglossal is an adjective meaning “Of or pertaining to the area under the tongue” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled H-Y-P-O-G-L-O-S-S-A-L and has 4 syllables, and it appears about once in every 28 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data).
What does hypoglossal mean?
adjective
- 1
Of or pertaining to the area under the tongue.
noun
- 1
Ellipsis of hypoglossal nerve.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce hypoglossal?
- UK /ˌhʌɪ.pə(ʊ)ˈɡlɒs.əl/
- UK /ˌhʌɪ.pə(ʊ)ˈɡlɒs.l̩/
- US /ˌhaɪ.pəˈɡlɑs.əl/
Hypoglossal has 4 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of hypoglossal
- hypoglossals plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is hypoglossal?
Hypoglossal appears about once in every 28 million words in written English, the 161,690th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Hypoglossal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense of or pertaining to the area under the tongue – see also sublingual:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | hypoglosse |
| Spanish | hipogloso |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does hypoglossal come from?
From New Latin hypoglōssus + -al, from Ancient Greek ῠ̔πόγλωσσος (hŭpóglōssos, “under the tongue”), from ῠ̔πο- (hŭpo-, “under, hypo-”) + γλῶσσᾰ (glôssă, “tongue”) + -ος (-os, adjectival suffix); equivalent to hypo- + glossal.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).