uvula

Meanings

1. Ellipsis of palatine uvula, the fleshy appendage that hangs from the back of the soft palate, that closes the nasopharynx during swallowing.
2. the slight elevation in the mucous membrane immediately behind the internal urethral orifice of the urinary bladder, caused by the middle lobe of the prostate
3. an object so suspended inside a bell that it may hit the bell and cause it to ring; a clapper

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw-der. Proto-Italic *oiwā Latin ūva Proto-Indo-European *-lós Proto-Indo-European *-elós Proto-Italic *-elos Latin -ula Late Latin ūvulabor. English uvula Borrowed from Late Latin ūvula, diminutive of ūva (“grape”).