Nipple Meaning
/ˈnɪp.əl/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounThe projection of a mammary gland from which, on female therian mammals, milk is secreted.
nounThe nipple (definition 1) and the areola together.
Sentence Examples
I have a discharge from my nipple.
Layla's right nipple was cut off.
The circular area around the nipple is called areola.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mother carefully put the bottle's ____ into the baby's mouth for feeding.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The baby bottle features a soft silicone ____ that mimics natural feeding.
Word Origin & History
From earlier neple, nypil, neble, believed to be a diminutive of nib, neb (“tip, point”), equivalent to nib + -le. Compare Old English nypel (“elephant trunk”), formed analogously as "a protuberance from one's neb" .
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Mary felt annoyed at the girl; just because bras had become passé, did a girl with so pronounced a bosom have to cater to fashion? In this case practicality dictated a bra, and Mary stood at the desk feeling herself flushing with disapproval. And artificial nipple-dilation; it was just too much."
— 1964, Philip K. Dick, “THREE”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 27:
"Joan Trieste wore skin-tight dark pants and slippers and a cotton man’s-style shirt; as far as he could tell, she had on no bra, as fashion dictated, but her nipples were merely flat dark circles beneath the white cotton fabric of her shirt: she could not afford or did not care to have the currently-popular dilation operation."
— 1964, Philip K. Dick, “FOUR”, in Clans of the Alphane Moon, United States: Ace Books, →OCLC; republished London: HarperCollinsPublishers, 1996, →ISBN, page 37:
"I could tell he didn't agree but he went to the corner and took up his squirrel gun, feeling the nipple for a percussion cap."
— 2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 23:
"These were first constructed by heading the spokes, threading them through a steel felloe or rim and inserting them into screwed nipples which were in their turn screwed into the flanges of the hub."
— 1921, W. F. Grew, The Cycle Industry, London, page 5:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mother carefully put the bottle's ____ into the baby's mouth for feeding.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The baby bottle features a soft silicone ____ that mimics natural feeding.