*SET-U

English word origin

Etymology of nasal

From Middle English, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from nāsus (“the nose”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of nasalis.

1 source sectionExtended source reportWiktionary original ↗
In this entry · 1 source sections

The source etymologies

Wiktionary via Kaikki / Wiktextract

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗
noun

A medicine that operates through the nose; an errhine. · Ellipsis of nasal consonant. · Ellipsis of nasal vowel. · The part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard.

adj

Of or pertaining to the nose or to the nasion. · Having a sound imparted by means of the nose; and specifically, made by lowering the soft palate, in some cases with closure of the oral passage, the voice thus issuing (wholly or partially) through the nose, as in the consonants m, n, ng. · Characterized by resonance in the nasal passage. · Sharp, penetrating.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

From Middle English, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from nāsus (“the nose”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of nasalis.

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

  • Word-formation componentnāsusla · the nose
  • Word-formation component-ālisla · -al
  • Doublet mentionnasalisen

This page abbreviates 2 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la-med",
        "3": "nāsālis"
      },
      "expansion": "Medieval Latin nāsālis"
    },
    {
      "name": "af",
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "nāsus",
        "3": "-ālis",
        "t1": "the nose",
        "t2": "-al",
        "pos2": "adjectival suffix",
        "nocat": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "nāsus (“the nose”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "nasalis"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of nasalis"
    }
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      "nasalis#Latin"
    ],
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      "-alis#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "nasalis",
      "nasalis#English"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "A medicine that operates through the nose; an errhine.",
        "Ellipsis of nasal consonant.",
        "Ellipsis of nasal vowel.",
        "The part of a helmet projecting to protect the nose; a nose guard."
      ],
      "tags": [
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 220619
    },
    {
      "pos": "adj",
      "glosses": [
        "Of or pertaining to the nose or to the nasion.",
        "Having a sound imparted by means of the nose; and specifically, made by lowering the soft palate, in some cases with closure of the oral passage, the voice thus issuing (wholly or partially) through the nose, as in the consonants m, n, ng.",
        "Characterized by resonance in the nasal passage.",
        "Sharp, penetrating."
      ],
      "tags": [
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  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 2,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

Where this record stops

This page does not supply an independently verified sound-change sequence, first-use manuscript or complete family tree unless a cited analysis explicitly establishes one. Missing detail here is a limit of this record—not a claim that humanity knows nothing more.

An older meaning does not determine what a word must mean today. Follow the sources, preserve disagreements, and keep ancestry separate from interpretation.

Contribute located evidence for nasal →

Source and snapshot

Imported from Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Selected fields are reformatted and grouped; wording, source identity and etymology sections are retained. CC-BY-SA-4.0 applies to the imported source material.

Dump: 2026-10-01 · Extracted: 2026-10-30. These are snapshot dates, not the word’s first attestation or the page’s revision date.

Source entry and bibliography ↗Wiktionary revision history ↗Acquisition and rights ledger
Machine-source provenance
Source SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
Import run
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
Permanent entry ID
w-bmFzYWw