Meanings
nountonsil (plural tonsils)
plural tonsils
- abbreviationellipsisanatomyEllipsis of palatine tonsil.
- anatomyAny of various small masses of lymphoid tissues.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouneither of two masses of lymphatic tissue one on each side of the oral pharynx
Similar
Broader
lymphatic tissuelymphoid tissue
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latintonsillae“the tonsils in the throat”
- Frenchtonsille
- Englishtonsil
Borrowed from French tonsille or Latin tonsillae (“the tonsils in the throat”, plural). First attested in the late 16th century,
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek παρίσθμιον, ἀντιάς
- παρίσθμιον (parísthmion)palatine tonsil
- ἀντιάς (antiás)palatine tonsil
Arabic لَوْزَة
- لَوْزَة (lawza)palatine tonsil
Basque amigdala
- amigdalapalatine tonsil
Bulgarian сли́вица, сли́вица
- сли́вица (slívica)palatine tonsil
- сли́вица (slívica)lymphoid organs
Catalan amígdala
- amígdalapalatine tonsil
Chinese Cantonese 扁桃腺
- 扁桃腺palatine tonsil
Chinese Mandarin 扁桃體 /扁桃体, 扁桃腺
- 扁桃體 /扁桃体 (biǎntáotǐ)palatine tonsil
- 扁桃腺 (biǎntáoxiàn)palatine tonsil
- 扁桃體 /扁桃体 (biǎntáotǐ)lymphoid organs
- 扁桃腺 (biǎntáoxiàn)lymphoid organs
Czech krční mandle, mandle
- krční mandlepalatine tonsil
- mandlelymphoid organs
Danish mandel
- mandelpalatine tonsil
Dutch keelamandel, tonsil
- keelamandelpalatine tonsil
- tonsilpalatine tonsil
- amandelpalatine tonsil
Esperanto tonsilo
- tonsilopalatine tonsil
Estonian mandel
- mandelpalatine tonsil
Finnish nielurisa, risa
- nielurisapalatine tonsil
- risalymphoid organs
French amygdale
- amygdalepalatine tonsil
German Mandel, Tonsille
- Mandelpalatine tonsil
- Tonsillepalatine tonsil
Greek αμυγδαλή
- αμυγδαλή (amygdalí)palatine tonsil
Hebrew שָׁקֵד
- שָׁקֵד (shakéd)palatine tonsil
Hindi गलतुंडिका, गलतुण्डिका
- गलतुंडिका (galtuṇḍikā)palatine tonsil
- गलतुण्डिका (galtuṇḍikā)palatine tonsil
Hungarian mandula
- mandulapalatine tonsil
Italian tonsilla
- tonsillapalatine tonsil
Japanese 扁桃腺, 扁桃
- 扁桃腺 (hentōsen)palatine tonsil
- 扁桃 (hentō)palatine tonsil
Korean 편도선, 편도
- 편도선 (pyeondoseon)palatine tonsil
- 편도 (pyeondo)palatine tonsil
Latin tonsillae
- tonsillaepalatine tonsil
Malay tonsil
- tonsilpalatine tonsil
Norwegian Bokmål mandel
- mandelpalatine tonsil
Polish migdałek, migdał
- migdałekpalatine tonsil
- migdałpalatine tonsil
Portuguese tonsila, amígdala
- tonsilapalatine tonsil
- amígdalapalatine tonsil
Romanian amigdală
- amigdalăpalatine tonsil
Russian гла́нда, миндалеви́дная железа́
- гла́нда (glánda)palatine tonsil
- миндалеви́дная железа́ (mindalevídnaja železá)palatine tonsil
- минда́лина (mindálina)palatine tonsil
- гла́нда (glánda)lymphoid organs
Slovak mandľa, mandľa
- mandľapalatine tonsil
- mandľalymphoid organs
Spanish amígdala, amígdala palatina
- amígdalapalatine tonsil
- amígdala palatinapalatine tonsil
- tonsila palatinapalatine tonsil
- amígdalalymphoid organs
- tonsilalymphoid organs
Swedish tonsill, halsmandel
- tonsillpalatine tonsil
- halsmandelpalatine tonsil
Tagalog gutil, diris
- gutilpalatine tonsil
- dirispalatine tonsil
Turkish bademcik
- bademcikpalatine tonsil
Ukrainian мигда́лик
- мигда́лик (myhdályk)palatine tonsil
Vietnamese a-mi-đan, hạch hạnh
- a-mi-đanpalatine tonsil
- hạch hạnhpalatine tonsil
Welsh tonsil, cilchwarren
- tonsilpalatine tonsil
- cilchwarrenpalatine tonsil
Yiddish מאַנדל
- מאַנדל (mandl)palatine tonsil
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with tonsil
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
tonsil. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonsil
MLA
“tonsil.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonsil. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tonsil,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tonsil.
Source: tonsil on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.