oral

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈo(ː)ɹəl/; /ˈɔː.ɹəl/ (UK); /ˈoɹəl/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin ōrālis, from Latin ōs (“mouth”) (genitive ōris),^[2][3][4][5] perhaps reinforced by French oral,^[2] from PIE Proto-Indo-European *os- (“mouth”), also the source of Sanskrit आस् (ās, “mouth”) and Old Norse óss (“river mouth”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Uttered by the mouth, spoken: the 1620s in Etymonline,^[3] 1625 in Barnhart, as done with the mouth,^[2] and 1628 for spoken, of poetry delivered by word of mouth.^[2][6] Orally is from 1608.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Of or relating to the mouth as part of the body is from 1656, the 1650s in Etymonline.^[6][3] Etymonline notes that os, mouth, became hard to tell apart in sound from os, bone, so that colloquial Latin turned to bucca (“cheek”) for the mouth.^[3] The noun, an oral examination, is American from 1876.^[2][3][7] Teaching the deaf by lip-reading and speech is oral from 1880.^[6] The psychological sense, of the mouth as the focus of infant sexuality, as in oral fixation, is from 1910,^[3] and the sexual sense is first recorded in 1948, in Kinsey.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1608 – orally.^[2]
• 1628 – spoken.^[2][6]
• 1656 – of the mouth.^[6]
• 1876 – an oral examination.^[2][3]
• 1910 – in psychology.^[3]
• 1948 – oral sex.^[3][6]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Spoken rather than written; verbal: an oral agreement.
2. Of or relating to the mouth.
3. Taken or given through the mouth: an oral vaccine.
4. (psychology) Of the first stage of infant development, when pleasure centres on the mouth.
5. Of sexual activity involving the mouth.

Noun

1. An examination in which questions and answers are spoken.

Word family

• orally
• orality
• oralism
• oralist
• nonoral
• preoral
• postoral
• suboral

Related words

• oracy
• orifice
• oracle
• orator
• osculate
• oscillate

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster