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

The hummingbird hawk moth, known for its furry grey body, orange hindwings and long proboscis, migrates to the UK from southern Europe and north Africa in the summer months.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

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

In a recent study in the journal PNAS, she and her colleagues investigated the sensory information the moths rely on to precisely control their proboscis.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 29, 2024

The butterfly poked its tiny proboscis down into her hair, probing for nurture, then flew away unsatisfied.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

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

Their habit is to attach themselves to the skin by plunging their proboscides into it, and then suck the blood until their flat bodies are distended into a globular form.

From The Naturalist on the River Amazons by Henry Walter Bates

"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

It is said, too, that when a storm comes, they seize hold of the rocks with their proboscises, as if they were anchors, and so fix themselves firm.

From The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athen?us by Athen?us