Vocalis

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /voʊˈkeɪ.lɪs/

Definitions

1. A vowel sound used in singing or speech ; a vocal musical part or vocalization in a composition
2. The production or use of vowel tones within music or spoken language ; a part of music involving singing or vocal sounds
3. A sound based on a vowel element in vocal performance or language ; a segment or feature of music consisting of singing or recorded voice

Etymology: The Latin adjective "vōcālis" meant "sounding" or "vocal," and English took it up in two different guises. The noun "vocalis" is a borrowing of the Latin word in its specialised use as a short form of "mūsculus vōcālis," the "vocal muscle," a term from anatomy. In other words, the noun began life as a label for a body part before it came to name a sound. The word is a doublet, which means it shares a root with two other English words that came through different routes. "Vocal" came in directly from the same Latin adjective, while "vowel" arrived through Old French, which had changed the Latin into a form that eventually gave us the vowel letters and sounds. "Vocalis" keeps the closer Latin shape of the family, so it sounds more like a technical term than either of its cousins.