oral

English Online Dictionary. What means oral‎? What does oral mean?

English

Etymology

Early 17th century borrowing from Late Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“the mouth”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔː.ɹəl/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔɹ.əl/
  • (East Coast) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹ.əl/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ɹəl/, /ˈoː.ɹəl/,
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈoɹəl/
• Homophone: aural
• Rhymes: -ɔːɹəl
• (without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: ōrʹəl, IPA^(key): /ˈo(ː)ɹəl/
• Rhymes: -ɒɹəl

Adjective

oral (not comparable)

1. (relational) Relating to the mouth.

   Synonym: (rare) mouthly

   1. (pharmacology) Done or taken by the mouth.
   2. (phonetics, of a speech sound) Pronounced by the voice resonating in the mouth, as the vowels in English.
   3. (psychoanalysis, in Freudian theory) Relating to or denoting a stage of infantile psychosexual development during which libidinal gratification is derived from intake (as of food), by sucking, and later by biting.
   4. Of, relating to, or characterized by personality traits of passive dependency and aggressiveness.
2. (relational) Spoken rather than written.

   Synonyms: spoken, verbal

   Antonym: written

   1. Relating to the transmission of information or literature by word of mouth.
   2. Using speech or the lips especially in teaching the deaf.
   3. (sociolinguistics, of a society) Not having reached the stage of literacy.

Derived terms

Related terms

• oracy
• orature

Translations

Noun

oral (countable and uncountable, plural orals)

1. (countable) A spoken test or examination, particularly in a language class.

2. (countable, usually in the plural) A physical examination of the mouth.
3. (uncountable, informal) Ellipsis of oral sex.

4. (bodybuilding, countable) Ellipsis of oral steroid..

See also

• aural

References

• “oral”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “oral”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Further reading

• “oral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “oral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• -arol, Arlo, LoRa, Loar, Lora, Orla

Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch overal, from Middle Dutch overal, from Old Dutch overal.

Adverb

oral

1. everywhere

Alternative forms

• orals
• oralste, oralster (nonstandard)

Asturian

Adjective

oral (epicene, plural orales)

1. oral

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [uˈɾal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [oˈɾal]

Adjective

oral m or f (masculine and feminine plural orals)

1. oral

Derived terms

• oralitat
• oralment

Further reading

• “oral” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “oral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “oral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “oral” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈoral]

Participle

oral

1. masculine singular past active participle of orat

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“mouth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ.ʁal/
• Homophones: orale, orales

Adjective

oral (feminine orale, masculine plural oraux, feminine plural orales)

1. oral

Derived terms

• sexe oral
• stade oral

Noun

oral m (plural oraux)

1. an oral exam, a viva, a viva voce

Further reading

• “oral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

German

Etymology

From Latin os, oris (“mouth”) + -al.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

oral (strong nominative masculine singular oraler, not comparable)

1. (relational) mouth; oral

Declension

Further reading

• “oral” in Duden online
• “oral” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Indonesian

Etymology

Ultimately derived from Late Latin ōrālis, perhaps through Dutch oraal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈoral/
• Rhymes: -oral
• Hyphenation: o‧ral

Adjective

oral (generally not comparable)

1. oral:
   1. Relating to the mouth.
   2. Spoken rather than written.

Interlingua

Adjective

oral (not comparable)

1. oral (pertaining to the mouth)

Polish

Etymology

Back-formation from oralny.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.ral/
• Rhymes: -ɔral
• Syllabification: o‧ral

Noun

oral m inan

1. (colloquial, vulgar) oral (oral sex)

   Coordinate term: anal

Declension

Further reading

• oral in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ōrālis.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: o‧ral

Adjective

oral m or f (plural orais)

1. oral

Derived terms

• oralidade
• oralmente

Noun

oral f (plural orais)

1. an oral exam

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French oral.

Adjective

oral m or n (feminine singular orală, masculine plural orali, feminine and neuter plural orale)

1. oral

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Noun

oral m (Cyrillic spelling орал)

1. Obsolete spelling of orao.

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ōrālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /oˈɾal/ [oˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: o‧ral

Adjective

oral m or f (masculine and feminine plural orales)

1. oral

Derived terms

Further reading

• “oral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28

Swedish

Adjective

oral (not comparable)

1. oral (related to the mouth)

Declension

Derived terms

• oralsex (“oral sex”)

References

• oral in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• oral in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• oral in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)