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proboscis

UK/pɹə(ʊ)ˈbɒs(k)ɪs/US/pɹoʊˈbɑs(k)ɪs/
nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #12,196 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: proboscises

A proboscis is the long tube some insects drink through. A butterfly's proboscis, uncoil the proboscis, a long proboscis.

A butterfly keeps it coiled like a watch spring and unrolls it to feed, and the length of one determines which flowers a species can reach — Darwin predicted a moth with a foot-long proboscis from an orchid, and it was found decades later. It also means an elephant's trunk.

Alvesgaspar · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of proboscis

  1. 1nounproboscisThe long tube some insects drink through.C1

    “The mosquito pushed its proboscis into my skin.”

proboscis is a body part.

Where it comes from

Greek proboskis means a means of taking food — pro, before, plus boskein, to feed.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *per-

  2. Ancient Greek

    προβοσκίς — elephant's trunk

  3. Latin

    proboscis

  4. English, today

    proboscis

Built from

  • βοτάνη · Ancient Greek — grass, fodder

From Latin proboscis, from Ancient Greek προβοσκίς (“elephant's trunk”) literally "means for taking food," from προ- + βόσκω, from the Proto-Indo-European - root gʷeh₃- from which also comes βοτάνη (“grass, fodder”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Insects & Sea Life

Practise this word

proboscis in the wild

  • In some species the proboscis is ribbon-like, longer than the trunk and may have a forked tip.

    Echiura

  • Nemertea is a phylum of animals also known as ribbon worms or proboscis worms, consisting of about 1300 known species.

    Nemertea

  • The proboscis bat (Rhynchonycteris naso) is a species of bat found in South America and Central America.

    Proboscis bat

  • Other common names include long-nosed proboscis bat, sharp-nosed bat, Brazilian long-nosed bat, and river bat.

    Proboscis bat

  • The body consists of a short, narrow trunk and a proboscis covered with hooks, which is used for feeding and attachment.

    Apororhynchus

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.