Word forms: plural tracheas, plural tracheae (trəkiːi, US treɪkiiː)
countable noun
Your trachea is your windpipe.
[medicine]
trachea in British English
(trəˈkiːə)
nounWord forms: plural-cheae (-ˈkiːiː)
1. anatomy, zoology
the membranous tube with cartilaginous rings that conveys inhaled air from the larynx to the bronchi
Nontechnical name: windpipe
2.
any of the tubes in insects and related animals that convey air from the spiracles to the tissues
3. botany another name for vessel (sense 5), tracheid
Derived forms
tracheal (traˈcheal) or tracheate (traˈcheate) or tracheated (ˈtrækɪˌeɪtɪd)
adjective
Word origin
C16: from Medieval Latin, from Greek trakheia, shortened from (artēria) trakheia rough (artery), from trakhus rough
trachea in American English
(ˈtreɪkiə; Chiefly British trəˈkiə)
nounWord forms: pluralˈtracheˌae (ˈtreɪkiˌi) or ˈtracheas
1.
in the respiratory tract of most land vertebrates, the tube extending from the larynx to the two bronchi; windpipe
2.
in the respiratory system of insects and certain other invertebrates, any of the tubules branching throughout the body and conducting air from the exterior
3. Botany
vessel (sense 4) vessel (sense 4b)
Word origin
ME trache < ML trachea < LL trachia, windpipe < Gr tracheia (arteria), rough (windpipe) < trachys, rough, akin to thrassein, to confuse < IE base *dher-, dark residue, dirt > dregs
Examples of 'trachea' in a sentence
trachea
David crouched over him, pinning his gun arm with a hand, his knee pressing hard into Clyde's trachea.