glossa

G2L1O1S1S1A1
/ˈɡlɒsə/

noun

The tongue, or lingua, especially of an insect.

RareScrabble 7

Meanings

nounglossa (plural glossae or glossas)

plural glossae · plural glossas

  1. biologyThe tongue, or lingua, especially of an insect.

    It was his glossa, strange that; when dead men had no need to verbalize.

    2018, Gloria Trubbshore, Băṭluptă, Xlibris, →ISBN
    3 more examples

    They wished to see what Holy would do with the glossa. “The innocent will tell no lies.” The organ eventually had been divided into nineteen sections, distributed, and ingested. “We swallow your lies and cause them to build our powers.”

    2016, Dr. Jol, Suburban Brand, Charlotte Publishing Press, →ISBN

    Her swollen “button” hitting his glossa tip provided wave after wave of full body pleasure.

    2016, Dr. JD Philip, “The Wedding”, in Victoria: A Pirate Romance, Charlotte Publishing Press, →ISBN, page 230

    In the Paragiina, the proximal region of the glossa is elongated, and the paraglossae are long and reach the bifid apex of the glossa.

    2019, Harald W. Krenn, Insect Mouthparts: Form, Function, Development and Performance, page 452
  2. human sciencesUnintelligible ecstatic speech.

    Although Samarin has examples of glossas from people who are not adherents to Christianity he does feel that occurences^([sic]) of glossolalia apart from Christian influences are rare.

    1976, Linguistics, page 87
    3 more examples

    This pattern does not hold in the glossas we have examined: [th] occurs where we expect [], as in the “word” kita in our sample text, and [] occurs freely in other American glossas as an independent sound unit,[…]

    1968, William J. Samarin, The Linguiticality of Glossolalia, page 64

    I have analysed a total of 24 prophetic glossas in this way, and 10 passages of the more easily intelligible prayer specimens of glossolalia. These glossas emanate from a total of 15 persons.

    1975, Temenos, page 50

    Thus significant differences exist between the glossas of different individuals: indeed, one person may have more than one distinctive glossa. And there are differences between the glossas of people of different linguistic backgrounds which correspond with the differences between their mother tongues, allowing for the influence of other languages which they may know to some extent.

    2008, B. Ward Powers, “Excursus 4: Tongues-Speaking Today: A Comment”, in First Corinthians: An Exegetical and Explanatory Commentary; A Consideration of Some Views Ancient and Modern in the Light of a Verse-by-Verse Look at What the Text Actually Says; A Somewhat Traditional Interpretation Plus Contemporary Application, Eugene, Ore.: Wipf and Stock, →ISBN, page 409

Synonyms & antonyms

nouna mobile mass of muscular tissue covered with mucous membrane and located in the oral cavity

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekγλῶσσᾰ“tongue”
  2. Englishglossa

From the Ancient Greek γλῶσσᾰ (glôssă, “tongue”). Doublet of gloss.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian ези́к
  • ези́к (ezík)zoology: insect’s tongue, lingua

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with glossa

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

glossa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glossa

MLA

“glossa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glossa. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “glossa,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/glossa.

Source: glossa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.