proboscis

American  

[proh-bos-is, -kis] / proʊˈbɒs ɪs, -kɪs /

noun

proboscises, plural proboscides plural

1. the trunk of an elephant.

2. any long flexible snout, as of the tapir.

3. Also called beak.  the elongate, protruding mouth parts of certain insects, adapted for sucking or piercing.

4. any of various elongate feeding, defensive, or sensory organs of the oral region, as in certain leeches and worms.

5. Facetious. the human nose, especially when unusually long or prominent.

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proboscis British  

/ prəʊˈbɒsɪs /

noun

1. a long flexible prehensile trunk or snout, as of an elephant

2. the elongated mouthparts of certain insects, adapted for piercing or sucking food

3. any similar part or organ

4. informal a person's nose, esp if large

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proboscis Scientific  

/ prō-bŏs′ĭs /

proboscises plural

1. A long, flexible snout or trunk, as of an elephant.

2. The slender, tubular feeding and sucking organ of certain invertebrates, such as butterflies and mosquitoes.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• proboscides
  plural
• proboscises
  plural

Etymology

Origin of proboscis

1570–80; < Latin < Greek proboskís elephant's trunk, literally, feeder, equivalent to pro- pro- ² + bósk ( ein ) to feed + -is (stem -id- ) noun suffix

Explanation

Proboscis is the scientific term for certain mammals' noses, especially long and flexible ones such as an elephant's trunk or a tapir's snout. If someone calls your nose a proboscis, they mean you've got a pretty big 'un. Proboscis comes from the Greek word for an elephant's trunk, proboskis, which translates as "means for taking food." Not to get too technical, but flies and other insects also have a proboscis, though if you ever end up on "Jeopardy!" it's worth knowing that they are not in fact true noses but actually part of their mouths. So there.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

proboscis proboscides proboscises

She introduces us to the Ugly Animal Preservation Society, an organization whose remit is to raise awareness and support for creatures such as the proboscis monkey and the blobfish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 30, 2026

When a mosquito bites you, it pierces the skin using a mouthpart called a proboscis to suck up blood.

From Seattle Times ● May 25, 2024

The movement analysis initially revealed that hummingbird hawk moths can only move their proboscis forwards and backwards by about one and a half centimetres, and can hardly move it sideways at all.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 29, 2024

They were indeed able to reproduce the conditions of proboscis drinking.

From National Geographic ● Aug. 8, 2023

One even had a butterfly proboscis, curled up like a fiddlehead.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor

Again, this seems incompatible with the presence of a trunk, as if sauropods had proboscides, wouldn’t they be grabbing foliage with the trunk tip, and then passing it into the mouth, over the teeth?

From Scientific American ● Nov. 20, 2012

As we’ll see, and as is obvious if you look at the proboscides of extant mammals, there’s a lot more to having a trunk that having large, dorsally located nostrils.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 20, 2012

Mammals with proboscides or inferred proboscides – I’m thinking tapirs, pyrotheres, astrapotheres, the stem-whale Makaracetus, some amynodontid rhinos, some oreodonts, Macrauchenia, dik-diks, saigas, desmans, sengis and so on – have narrow snouts.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 20, 2012

Naturally there will be mercantile proboscides dipping here and there, gleaning a little honey for the sweetening of the pots.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is therefore advisable to see that the zinc is so far above the sugar that the moths are unable to reach the latter by thrusting their extended proboscides through the perforations.

From Butterflies and Moths (British) by Furneaux, William S.

"During our nighttime scuba dives, we searched for the ribbon-like proboscises of Bonellia sp aff minor extending out from burrow entrances," says lead author Ryutaro Goto at KyotoU's Field Science Education and Research Center.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2023

The Malagasy moths take the prize here, with proboscises that measure 6.6 centimeters longer on average, as seen in the picture above.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 1, 2021

The insects bite into leaves with their mandibles and proboscises to induce flowering up to one month earlier than normal.

From Nature ● May 21, 2020

The bees soon cut several holes in the leaves of each plant using their mandibles and proboscises.

From Scientific American ● May 21, 2020

Two of the creatures had dropped upon his oily hair, to sip the rancid oil through their disgusting proboscises.

From The Mad Planet by Leinster, Murray