esophagus
noun
Simple meaning
The passage between the pharynx and the stomach.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ihsahfuhguhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ɪˈsɑfəɡəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
American spelling
The passage between the pharynx and the stomach
American spelling
The tube that carries food from the pharynx to the stomach.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: The passage between the pharynx and the stomach
Used this way, esophagus is a word tied to one variety of English that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. Most speakers understand it but seldom reach for it.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Regional
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Uncommon in everyday speech
Usage note
Mainly used in American English, so it may read as unusual elsewhere.
Nearby words
- oesophagus , a specialist term, precise but narrower
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: passage between the pharynx and the stomach
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.