hard palate
1
4.6
- noun
- /hɑrd ˈpælɪt/
- Specialized
:
paladar duro
- The child pointed to the roof of her mouth, identifying the hard palate as the part that feels bumpy.
- ulcer of the hard palate
- soft and hard palate
Examples
-
The mass appeared to fit into the defect in the hard palate.
Academic text (2004) -
Spider answered with a marvelous sound: a rapid click of the tongue against the hard palate.
Fiction book (2000) -
There is a separate midline ulcer of the hard palate posteriorly.
Academic text (2001) -
We describe a case of low-grade B-cell lymphoma of the hard palate with a delayed presentation.
Academic text (2008) -
Oral examination reveals the patchy black discoloration of the hard palate (arrow).
Academic text (2004) -
Underneath her dentures was a tender, nodular, submucosal lesion at the midbody of the hard palate.
Academic text (2008) -
The dentist examined the hard palate to check for any abnormalities.
-
During the surgery, the surgeon operated on the hard palate to correct the patient's condition.
Synonyms
20
4.1
The roof inside your mouth that separates it from your nose
1
3.7
The top inside surface of the mouth that separates it from the nose
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'palate' denotes the roof of the mouth and the adjective 'hard' specifies its bony/firm quality, so the phrase denotes the bony front part of the mouth roof. This adjective+noun pattern and the bodily-anatomy sense are straightforward and cross-linguistically common, making the phrase immediately understandable to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
The term hard palate is a simple picture: palate means the 'roof' of your 'mouth' and hard shows this roof is bony and firm. So hard palate refers to the bony front part of the mouth that separates the mouth from the 'nose'.