larynx
Americannoun
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larynges,
plural
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larynxes
plural
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Anatomy. a muscular and cartilaginous structure lined with mucous membrane at the upper part of the trachea in humans, in which the vocal cords are located.
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Zoology.
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a similar vocal organ in other mammals.
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a corresponding structure in certain lower animals.
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noun
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larynges
plural
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The upper part of the trachea in most vertebrate animals, containing the vocal cords. The walls of the larynx are made of cartilage. Sound is produced by air passing through the larynx on the way to the lungs, causing the walls of the larynx to vibrate. The pitch of the sound that is produced can be altered by the pull of muscles, which changes the tension of the vocal cords.
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Also called voice box
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of larynx
1570–80; < New Latin < Greek lárynx
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Explanation
The larynx, or "voice box," is the cartilaginous structure at the top of the trachea, or "windpipe," which is in your throat. The larynx contains the vocal cords. The Greek word laryngos means "the upper windpipe." The larynx does all sorts of important things besides housing the vocal cords (which are actually folds, not cords). The larynx is involved in breathing, and it also helps keep food from entering your windpipe when you swallow. All mammals have one — the wolf that howls, the lion that roars, and Tarzan, who makes that — whatever that sound is he makes.
Vocabulary lists containing larynx
Gross, Anatomy!
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - Introductory
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
When helium flowed through the larynx, the high frequency component rose in pitch, but the low frequency component stayed the same.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026
She has regular contact with her GP surgery as she is on thyroid medication after having half her larynx removed because of a benign tumour.
From BBC ● Nov. 7, 2025
Consultations with doctors eventually brought a brutal diagnosis: spasmodic dysphonia, a neurological disorder in which the muscles in the larynx tighten or lapse into spasms, strangulating speech while making singing a significant challenge.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2024
The results of the modelling, published in the journal Environmental Advances, have pinpointed hotspots in the human respiratory system where plastic particles can accumulate, from the nasal cavity and larynx and into the lungs.
From Science Daily ● May 1, 2024
It was not the man’s brain that was speaking; it was his larynx.
From "1984" by George Orwell
They passed air through larynges removed from deceased horses and then alternated the airflow between normal air and helium.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 25, 2026
To test these theories, scientists studied eight larynges from cats with terminal illnesses that had been humanely euthanized.
From Salon ● Nov. 3, 2023
So Dr. Nishimura’s group removed the larynges from three deceased chimpanzees and attached them to simulated lungs; they did the same with six rhesus macaques that had been euthanized for other approved experiments.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2022
The patterns matched those in live animals, as seen in an endoscopic video of a chimp waking from anesthesia and other similar recordings of the larynges of rhesus macaques and squirrel monkeys.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 10, 2022
This argument, however, is of no value, because it so happens that birds have two larynges, one at the bottom and the other at the top of the windpipe.
From The Mechanism of the Human Voice by Emil Behnke
As the study authors explain, baleen whales and their toothed whale cousins could not survive with the larynxes from their land mammal ancestors.
From Salon ● Feb. 23, 2024
He and his colleagues carried out experiments using larynxes, or "voice boxes", that had been carefully removed from three carcasses of stranded whales - a minke, a humpback and a sei whale.
From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2024
For the first time, Elemans could use these three larynxes to replicate what happens when the animals produce sound.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 21, 2024
As he notes, a cat will usually only purr when it feels safe, comfortable, and content—something that wouldn’t be possible if the felines had uncomfortable probes inserted into their larynxes.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 3, 2023
No such enlargement takes place in the larynxes of girls: therefore their voices undergo no such sudden change.
From A Practical Physiology by Albert F. Blaisdell
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