amygdale

tonsil

noun ah-meeg-DAL Rare

Origin: Greek amygdalē (almond)

Also means

almond

Usage Note

Amygdale primarily means tonsil in medical French, but the same word is also used in anatomy for the amygdala (the brain structure). In everyday speech it almost always refers to tonsils: se faire opérer des amygdales means to have one's tonsils removed. The almond-fruit sense is largely archaic; the modern word for almond is amande (f).

Examples

"Le médecin a examiné ses amygdales enflées."

Natural Translation

The doctor examined his swollen tonsils.

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