nasal index

noun

Craniometry. (of the skull) the ratio of the distance from nasion to the lower margin of the nasal aperture to that of the maximum breadth of the nasal aperture.
Cephalometry. (of the head) the ratio of the maximum breadth of the external nose to its height from the nasal root to where the septum is confluent with the upper lip.

Origin of nasal index

First recorded in 1895–1900

Words Nearby nasal index

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use nasal index in a sentence

The nasal index varies from 84 to 140—a truly astonishing series of noses!
The Negrito and Allied Types in the Philippines and The Ilongot or Ibilao of Luzon | David P. Barrows
Only, the nasal index is somewhat smaller; on the whole, the nose has in its separate parts a decidedly pithecoid form.
The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes | Toms de Comyn
Thus it will be seen that races with a nasal index of more than 100 have a nose wider than it is long.
Negritos of Zambales | William Allan Reed
One very dark-skinned and platyrhine individual, indeed, had a nasal index of 92.
Castes and Tribes of Southern India | Edgar Thurston
Of the total, five are leptorhine—that is, have the “narrow” nose with nasal index below 70.
The Bontoc Igorot | Albert Ernest Jenks

British Dictionary definitions for nasal index

nasal index

noun

the ratio of the widest part of the nose to its length multiplied by 100

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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