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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

dorsal.

With respect to, or concerning the side in which the backbone is located, or the analogous side of an invertebrate.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈdɔː.səl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɔː.sl̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɔɹ.səl/General-American

  1. With respect to, or concerning the side in which the backbone is located, or the analogous side of an invertebrate. Relating to the top surface of the foot or hand.

  2. With respect to, or concerning the side in which the backbone is located, or the analogous side of an invertebrate. Produced using the dorsum of the tongue.

  3. Having only one sharp side.

  4. Relating to the surface naturally inferior, as of a leaf.

  5. Relating to the surface naturally superior, as of a creeping hepatic moss.

Where this word comes from

From Late Middle English dorsal/dorsale, borrowing from Medieval Latin dorsālis (“of or relating to the back”), from dorsum (“the back”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to dorsum + -al.

noun/ˈdɔː.səl/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɔː.sl̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈdɔɹ.səl/General-American

  1. A hanging, usually of rich stuff, at the back of a throne, altar, etc.

  2. Any of the longitudinal series of plates that encircle the body, excluding the ventral scales.

  3. A sound produced using the dorsum of the tongue.

Where this word comes from

From Late Middle English dorsal/dorsale, borrowing from Medieval Latin dorsālis (“of or relating to the back”), from dorsum (“the back”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to dorsum + -al.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.