alveolar

Etymology

It is formed from English alveolus + -ar,^[2][3][4][5] originally after New Latin alveolaris, recorded from 1743 of the sockets of teeth.^[2] The revised OED compares French alvéolaire, recorded from 1724,^[2] and Merriam-Webster takes the English word as probably from the French one.^[6] Alveolus is from Latin alveolus (“small hollow, tray, socket”), a diminutive of alveus (“a hollow, tub, cavity”), which comes from alvus (“belly”).^[7][6][5][8] Klein and Barnhart relate it to Ancient Greek αὐλός (aulós, “tube, pipe”),^[5][8] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *aulo- (“hole, cavity”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the sockets of the teeth, or of the part of the jawbone that holds them: in 1750, in the phrase alveolar branch, which the OED thinks probably follows the Latin ramus alveolaris.^[2][6] Etymonline dates the word to 1799^[4] and Dictionary.com to 1790–1800.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon extended to other small hollows of the body.^[4] From 1816 it described a surface pitted like a honeycomb, from 1849 the air sacs of the lungs, and since 1872 the small sacs of a gland.^[2] In phonetics, from 1874 in A. J. Ellis's On Early English Pronunciation, it describes a consonant made with the tongue against the ridge behind the upper teeth, such as English t, d and s.^[2][10] The noun followed in 1827, for the bony ridge that holds the teeth, and in 1874 for an alveolar consonant.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1750 – of the tooth sockets or the part of the jaw that holds them.^[2][6]
• 1816 – (biology) pitted like a honeycomb.^[2]
• 1827 – noun, the alveolar process of the jaw.^[2][6]
• 1849 – of the air sacs of the lungs.^[2]
• 1872 – of the small sacs of a gland.^[2]
• 1874 – (phonetics) of a consonant made at the alveolar ridge; noun, such a consonant.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of, relating to, or like an alveolus or alveoli.^[11][6][10]
2. Of the part of the jaw that holds the tooth sockets.^[11][10][2]
3. Of the tiny air sacs of the lungs.^[10][2][6]
4. (phonetics) Of a consonant, made with the tip of the tongue touching or close to the ridge behind the upper front teeth, as English t, d and s.^[10][11][2]

Noun

1. (phonetics) An alveolar consonant.^[10][11][2]
2. The part of the upper jaw that holds the teeth; the alveolar ridge.^[6][2]

Word family

• alveolarly
• postalveolar
• interalveolar
• apicoalveolar
• palato-alveolar
• alveolar ridge

Related words

• alveolus
• alveolate

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e f The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins