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Papille

papilla (small projection on the tongue or skin)

noun pah-PIL-e Rare

Origin: from Latin papilla (nipple, small protrusion)

Usage Note

Papille refers to the small bumps on the tongue (Zungenpapillen) that house taste buds, and also to other small anatomical projections. Zungenpapillenentzündung (inflamed tongue papillae) appears in dental health texts.

Examples

"Die Zungenpapillen sind mit Geschmacksknospen besetzt."

Natural Translation

The tongue papillae are studded with taste buds.

Literal Translation

The tongue-papillae are with taste-buds studded.

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