Etymology

nostril

nos·tril
N1O1S1T1R1I1L1

Today it means: Either of the two orifices located on the nose (or on the beak of a bird); used as a passage for air and other gases to travel the nasal passages. Full definition →

Middle English nostrille ← Old English nosþyrel
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The story

  1. Old English · inherited fromnosþyrel
  2. Middle English · inherited fromnostrille
  3. English todaynostril

From Middle English nostrille, from Old English nosþyrel. Compare Old Frisian nosterle (“nostril”), modern West Frisian noaster (“nostrill”). Compare also Middle Low German noster (“nostril”), from Proto-Germanic *nustriz (“nostril”). By surface analysis, nose + thirl (“hole”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.