pharynx Anat.
(ˈfærɪŋks)
Also 8 pharinx.
[a. mod.L. pharynx, pharyng-em, a. Gr. ϕάρυγξ, ϕάρυγγ-α throat, pharynx: cf. ϕάραγξ cleft, chasm. So F. pharynx (Paré 1560).]
The cavity, with its enclosing muscles and mucous membrane, situated behind and communicating with the nose, mouth, and larynx, and continuous below with the œsophagus; forming a passage from the mouth for the food and drink, and from the nasal passages for the breath.
| 1693 tr. Blancard's Phys. Dict. (ed. 2), Pharynx, the upper part of the Gullet, consisting of Three pair of Muscles. 1714 Mandeville Fab. Bees (1733) II. 100 This destroying of manhood..has a considerable influence..on the pharinx, the glands and muscles of the throat. 1794–6 E. Darwin Zoon. (1802) I. 49 When the pharinx is irritated by agreeable food, the muscles of deglutition are brought into action by association. 1848 Carpenter Anim. Phys. iv. (1872) 176 The teeth of fishes are often set..upon the surface of the palate and even in the pharynx or swallow. 1879 G. B. Prescott Sp. Telephone 50 The resonance of the air..in the cavity behind the tongue, comprehending the pharynx and larynx. |
b. A more or less corresponding cavity in many invertebrates, forming a continuation of the mouth or beginning of the alimentary canal.
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxiii. 359 Pharynx... The opening into the gullet. 1828 Ibid. xxxiv. 456 On the upper side of the tongue..is the pharynx, or aperture by which the food passes from the mouth to the œsophagus. 1888 Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 103 The pharynx [of an Ascidian] has thus a respiratory function. Ibid. 633 (Rotifera) The mouth leads into an œsophagus, followed..usually directly by a muscular pharynx or mastax. |