nates

N1A1T1E1S1
UK/ˈneɪtiːz/

noun

The two anterior of the four lobes on the dorsal side of the midbrain of most mammals; the anterior optic lobes.

Similar
buttocksarsebuttbacksidebumbunscanfundament
OriginLatin natēs →
UncommonScrabble 5
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Meanings

nates1

nounnates pl (plural only)
  1. pluralplural onlyanatomyThe two anterior of the four lobes on the dorsal side of the midbrain of most mammals; the anterior optic lobes.
  2. pluralplural onlyThe buttocks.

    He sat cross-legged on a damask pillow and scrutinized the pale puckered nates with the air of an epicure examining a fly in his vichyssoise.

    1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 3
    2 more examples

    There my beauty lay down on her stomach, showing me, showing the thousand eyes wide open in my eyed blood, her slightly raised shoulder blades, and the bloom along the incurvation of her spine, and the swellings of her tense narrow nates clothed in black, and the seaside of her schoolgirl thighs.

    1955 September 15, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 11, in Lolita, Paris: The Olympia Press […], →OCLC

    Enderby watched her warily as she lay prone, having kicked the clothes off the bed, her nates silvered by the Roman moonlight to the likeness of a meringue.

    1963, Anthony Burgess, Inside Mr Enderby
  3. pluralplural onlybiologyThe umbones of a bivalve shell.

Nates2

proper noun
  1. pluralplural of Nate

Synonyms & antonyms

nounthe fleshy part of the human body that you sit on

Similar
buttocksarsebuttbacksidebumbunscanfundamenthindquartershind endkeisterposteriorpratrearrear endrumpsternseattailtail end
Broader
body part
Also see
arseassbacksidebehindbottombumbunsbuttcanfannyfundamentkeisterposteriorpratrearrear endrumpseatsterntailtail endtush

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinnatēs
  2. Englishnates

From Latin natēs, plural of natis.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with nates

eightieslatesEuphratesmithridatesachatesAegatespenates
All rhymes →

Anagrams

antesSantestaneAstenstean
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

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