English
syrinx
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /ˈsɪɹɪŋks/
Noun

syrinx (plural syrinxes)

  1. A set of panpipes.
    • 1982, John Fowles, Mantissa:
      Actually, to cut a long story short, he began...well, playing with a rather different sort of pipe. Or syrinx, as we called it. He obviously thought he was alone.
    • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 247:
      Inside, somebody was playing a duet on syrinx and lyre.
  2. A narrow channel cut in rock, especially in ancient Egyptian tombs.
  3. (ornithology, zootomy) The voice organ in birds.
    • 1999, Irene M. Pepperberg, The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots, 2002, page 293 ↗,
      The role of the syrinx in psittacine sound production is still under examination, and probably differs from that of songbirds.
    • 2007, Gisela Kaplan, Tawny Frogmouth, page 121 ↗,
      The primary sound-producing organ in a bird is the syrinx and the secondary system aiding sound production consists of the larynx, mouth, tongue and laryngeal muscles.
    • 2010, Peter Simmons, David Young, Nerve Cells and Animal Behaviour, 3rd Edition, page 247 ↗,
      The organ responsible for producing sounds during song is the syrinx, located where the trachea joins the bronchi of the two lungs (Fig. 9.14).
  4. (medicine) A rare, fluid-filled neuroglial cavity within the spinal cord or in the brain stem
Related terms Translations
  • Spanish: siringe


This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.001
Offline English dictionary