# oral
## English
### Etymology

* PIE word
* *h₁óh₃s
Early 17th century borrowing from Late Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“the mouth”) +‎ -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɔː.ɹəl/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American, Canada) IPA: /ˈɔɹ.əl/
* (East Coast dialect) IPA: /ˈɑɹ.əl/
* (General Australian) IPA: /ˈɔ.ɹəl/, /ˈoː.ɹəl/,
* (New Zealand) IPA: /ˈoɹəl/
* Homophone: aural
* Rhymes: -ɔːɹəl
* (without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: ōrʹəl, IPA: /ˈo(ː)ɹəl/
* Rhymes: -ɒɹəl

### Adjective

oral (not comparable)
* (relational) Relating to the mouth.
    Synonym: (rare) mouthly
    oral hygiene
    oral sex
** (pharmacology) Done or taken by the mouth.
** (phonetics, of a speech sound) Pronounced by the voice resonating in the mouth, as the vowels in English.
** (psychoanalysis, in Freudian theory) Relating to or denoting a stage of infantile psychosexual development during which libidinal gratification is derived from intake (as of food), by sucking, and later by biting.
** Of, relating to, or characterized by personality traits of passive dependency and aggressiveness.
* (relational) Spoken rather than written.
    Synonyms: spoken, verbal
    Antonym: written
    an oral presentationan oral French exam
** Relating to the transmission of information or literature by word of mouth.
** Using speech or the lips especially in teaching the deaf.
** (sociolinguistics, of a society) Not having reached the stage of literacy.

#### Derived terms

* aboral
* adoral
* circumoral
* endoral
* extraoral
* fecal-oral
* hyperoral
* infraoral
* juxtaoral
* naso-oral, nasoral
* nonoral
* oral allergy syndrome
* oral argument
* oral availability
* oral candidiasis
* oral cavity
* oral exam
* oral glucose
* oral gratification
* oral history
* oral hygiene
* oralism
* oralist
* orality
* oralize, oralise
* oral lore
* orally
* oralmost
* oral mucositis
* oral myology
* oralnasal
* oralness
* oral sex
* oral stage
* oral surgeon
* oral surgery
* oral test
* oral tradition
* oral vowel
* paroral
* perioral
* peroral
* pharyngo-oral
* postoral, post-oral
* preoral, pre-oral
* suboral
* supraoral
* transoral

#### Related terms

* oracy
* orature

#### Translations
### Noun

oral (countable and uncountable, plural orals)
* (countable) A spoken test or examination, particularly in a language class.
    We've got our Spanish oral tomorrow.
* (countable, usually in the plural) A physical examination of the mouth.
* (uncountable, informal) Ellipsis of oral sex.
    I gave my boyfriend oral for the first time on his birthday.
* (bodybuilding, countable) Ellipsis of oral steroid.

### See also

* aural

### References

* “oral”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “oral”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

### Further reading

* “oral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “oral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* -arol, Arlo, LoRa, Loar, Lora, Orla

## Afrikaans
### Etymology

From Dutch overal, from Middle Dutch overal, from Old Dutch overal.

### Adverb

oral
* everywhere

#### Alternative forms

* orals
* oralste, oralster (nonstandard)

## Asturian
### Adjective

oral (epicene, plural orales)
* oral

## Catalan
### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central) [uˈɾal]
* IPA: (Balearic, Valencia) [oˈɾal]

### Adjective

oral m or f (masculine and feminine plural orals)
* oral

#### Derived terms

* oralitat
* oralment

### Further reading

* “oral” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
* “oral”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
* “oral” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
* “oral” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Czech
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈoral]

### Participle

oral
* masculine singular past active participle of orat

## French
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ōrālis, from ōs (“mouth”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ɔ.ʁal/
* Audio:(file)
* Homophones: orale, orales

### Adjective

oral (feminine orale, masculine plural oraux, feminine plural orales)
* oral

#### Derived terms

* sexe oral
* stade oral

### Noun

oral m (plural oraux)
* an oral exam, a viva, a viva voce

### Further reading

* “oral”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## German
### Etymology

From Latin os, oris (“mouth”) + -al.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -aːl

### Adjective

oral (strong nominative masculine singular oraler, not comparable)
* (relational) mouth; oral

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “oral” in Duden online
* “oral” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Ultimately derived from Late Latin ōrālis, perhaps through Dutch oraal.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈoral/
* Rhymes: -oral
* Hyphenation: o‧ral

### Adjective

oral (generally not comparable)
* oral:
** relating to the mouth
** spoken rather than written

## Interlingua
### Adjective

oral (not comparable)
* oral (pertaining to the mouth)

## Polish
### Etymology

Back-formation from oralny.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈɔ.ral/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -ɔral
* Syllabification: o‧ral

### Noun

oral m inan
* (colloquial, vulgar) oral (oral sex)
    Coordinate term: anal

#### Declension
### Further reading

* oral in Polish dictionaries at PWN

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin ōrālis.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /oˈɾaw/ [oˈɾaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ɔˈɾal/ [ɔˈɾaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ɔˈɾal/ [ɔˈɾaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /ɔˈɾa.li/
* Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
* Hyphenation: o‧ral

### Adjective

oral m or f (plural orais)
* oral

#### Derived terms

* oralidade
* oralmente

### Noun

oral f (plural orais)
* an oral exam

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French oral.

### Adjective

oral m or n (feminine singular orală, masculine plural orali, feminine and neuter plural orale)
* oral

#### Declension
## Serbo-Croatian
### Noun

oral m (Cyrillic spelling орал)
* Obsolete spelling of orao.

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ōrālis.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /oˈɾal/ [oˈɾal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: o‧ral

### Adjective

oral m or f (masculine and feminine plural orales)
* oral

#### Derived terms

* juicio oral
* oralmente
* por vía oral
* sexo oral

### Further reading

* “oral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Swedish
### Adjective

oral (not comparable)
* oral (related to the mouth)

#### Declension

$^1$ The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative. $^2$ Dated or archaic. $^3$ Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.

#### Derived terms

* oralsex (“oral sex”)

### References

* oral in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* oral in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* oral in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)