Nose

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: [nəʊ̯z]

Definitions

1. The protruding facial feature used for breathing and detecting scents
2. The body part on the face that enables breathing and the detection of odors ; the foremost or pointed section of an object ; to search or pry about in order to discover information
3. A protrusion on the face responsible for inhaling air and sensing smells ; the forward end or leading edge of a device or structure ; to use intuition or investigation to uncover facts or details

Etymology: The most striking fact about "nose" is how old and how widespread it is. The Old English "nosu" was already in use over a thousand years ago, and its closest relatives run across the Germanic languages: Dutch "neus", German "Nase", Swedish "näsa", and Danish "næse" all sound like cousins of it. The word reaches further still, to Latin "nāsus" and "nāris" (nostril), and to Russian "нос" and Sanskrit "nā́sā", which also means nostrils. The reconstructed ancestor behind all of these is a Proto-Indo-European form that may have been a dual, a word for a pair. That fits the body part well, since the nose is paired with its nostrils, and the plural-looking nature of the Sanskrit "nā́sā" supports the idea that the sense of "nostrils" came first. The Proto-West Germanic form "*nasō" likely shows the same older dual-based origin before it settled into the singular "nosu" in Old English.

Synonyms: snout, muzzle, nostril, olfactory, scent organ