syrinx

The syrinx (sense 2.3) of a chicken (Gallus gallus). The part labelled (1) is the trachea, (2) is the membrana tympaniformis lateralis (literally “lateral membrane in the form of a drum”), (3) is the membrana tympaniformis medialis (“medial membrane in the form of a drum”), and (4) are the bronchi which lead to the lungs. The sounds produced by birds are caused by vibrations of the membranae and other parts when air passes through the syrinx.

Learned borrowing from Latin sȳrinx (“reed; reed pipe, panpipes”), from Ancient Greek σῦριγξ (sûrinx, “panpipes; pipe-shaped object”),[1] from Pre-Greek. Doublet of syringe.

The plural form syringes is a learned borrowing from Latin sȳringes.

• Singular:
  • (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɹɪŋks/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • Hyphenation: sy‧rinx
• Plural (syringes):
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɪˈɹɪnd͡ʒiːz/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): /sɪˈɹɪnd͡ʒiz/, /sə-/
  • Hyphenation: sy‧ring‧es

syrinx (plural syrinxes or syringes)

1. (music) A set of panpipes.
   • 1754 March 25 (date written), Paul Gemsage, “[Further Remarks on the Antient Syrinx]”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle, volume XXIV, London: […] D[avid] Henry and R. Cave, […], published April 1754, →OCLC, page 161, column 2:

     [T]he Syrinx might give occaſion to the bagpipe, by leading the vvay to its invention; for it vvas certainly very natural, both for eaſe in playing, and for the ſaving of breath, and even for the health and ſafety of the performer's lungs, to contrive a method of conveying vvind to the ſeveral pipes by means of bellovvs.

   • 1818, John Keats, “Book IV”, in Endymion: A Poetic Romance, London: […] [T. Miller] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 192, lines 690–693:

     Pipes will I fashion of the syrinx flag, / That thou mayst always know whither I roam, / When it shall please thee in our quiet home / To listen and think of love.

   • 1901, A. F. Rudolf Hoernle [i.e., Augustus Frederic Rudolf Hoernlé], “A Report on the British Collection of Antiquities from Central Asia [Part II]”, in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, volume LXX, part I (History, Literature, &c.), number 1 (extra), Calcutta: […] Baptist Mission Press [for the Asiatic Society of Bengal], →OCLC, section IV (Pottery, Terracottas, Miscellaneous Objects), page 49:

     In Dr. Sven Hedin's collection there is a fragment of a neck of a jar, which shows a whole circle of Gandharvas performing on drums, harps, syrinxes, etc. Noteworthy is the existence of the syrinx on artware of Eastern Turkestan. That instrument has never, so far as I am aware, been observed in Indian art.

   • 1961, Alain Gheerbrant, “Book 2”, in [Inca] Garcilaso de la Vega, translated by Maria Jolas, edited by Alain Gheerbrant, The Incas: The Royal Commentaries of the Inca […] (An Avon Library Book), New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, published 1966, →OCLC, footnote 26, page 87:

     The Panpipe is indeed one of the most characteristic instruments of South America, especially of the Western regions. the ancient Peruvian civilizations produced syrinxes not only of reeds but also of terra cotta (those of the coastal civilizations, especially of Nazca, are sometimes real works of art) and even carved in stone, chiefly among the Araucans.

   • [1982 August, John Fowles, Mantissa, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.; Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 75:

     Actually, to cut a long story short, he began … well, playing with a rather different sort of pipe. Or syrinx, as we called it. He obviously thought he was alone. I was frankly quite shocked. Disgusted. It wasn't that I hadn't seen naked men before, at my aunt's in Cyprus.

     Referring figuratively to the person’s penis.]

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Iceland Spar”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 220:

     Inside, somebody was playing a duet on syrinx and lyre. Lew thought he knew the tune, but then it went off in some direction he couldn't follow.

2. (by extension)
   1. (archaeology, Egyptology) Chiefly in the plural: a narrow channel cut in rock, especially in Ancient Egyptian burial chambers.
      • 1658, James Ussher, “The Sixth Age of the World. [The Macedonian Empire.]”, in The Annals of the World. […], London: […] E[van] Tyler, for J[ohn] Crook, […], and for G[abriel] Bedell, […], →OCLC, page 374:

        And novv vvhen the people of all ſorts came flocking to the Court, in a tumultuous manner, Agathocles [grandson of Agathocles of Syracuse], taking the King vvith him, vvent and hid himſelf, in a place called Syringes, vvhich vvas a gallery or vvalk, vvhich had every vvay three vvalls and gates to paſſe, before one could come unto it.

      • 1678, R[alph] Cudworth, chapter IV, in The True Intellectual System of the Universe: The First Part; wherein All the Reason and Philosophy of Atheism is Confuted; and Its Impossibility Demonstrated, London: […] Richard Royston, […], →OCLC, page 322:

        The Former of theſe Tvvo Hermes [i.e., the god Thoth], vvas the Inventor of Arts and Sciences, the Latter [Siphoas], the Reſtorer and Advancer of them: the Firſt vvrote in Hieroglyphicks upon Pillars, ἐν τῆ Συριγγικῆ γῆ [in the land of Syringes] (as the learned Valeſius conjectures it ſhould be read, instead of Σηριαδικῆ.) VVhich Syringes vvhat they vvere, Am[mianus] Marcellinus vvill inſtruct us; […]

      • 1733, [Patrick Delany], “Dissertation XIV. Of Other Testimonies Relating to the Deluge.”, in Revelation Examined with Candour. Or, A Fair Enquiry into the Sense and use of the Several Revelations Expressly Declared, or Sufficiently Implied, to be Given to Mankind from the Creation, as They are Found in the Bible. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, pages 247–248:

        There are alſo (in Egypt) Syrinxes, certain ſubterraneous and vvinding receſſes, vvhich (as it is ſaid) men skilled in antient rites, foreknovving the coming of the deluge, and fearing that the memory of their ceremonies ſhould be blotted out, hevved and faſhioned out of quarries in ſeveral places, vvith immenſe labour, and carved on the vvalls vvhich they had ſo hevvn, many kinds of fovvls, and vvild beaſts, and figures of animals innumerable, vvhich they called hieroglyphick (ſo ſome read the text) or ſacred characters.

      • 1850, C. O. Müller [i.e., Karl Otfried Müller], F[riedrich] G[ottlieb] Welcker, “History of Art in Antiquity. Appendix. The Nations Not of Greek Race.”, in John Leitch, transl., Ancient Art and Its Remains; or A Manual of the Archæology of Art. […], new edition, London: A[rchibald] Fullarton and Co., […], →OCLC, note 3, page 216:

        Further the Ramesseion (the Osmandyeion of the Descript.) with the alley of sphinxes, the Menephtheion (palace at Kurnah) and other monuments as late as Ptolemy the First's time. Grottoes and syrinxes all around.

   2. (neurology, pathology) Any of several abnormal tube-shaped structures in the body, especially a rare, fluid-filled neuroglial cavity in the brain stem or within the spinal cord.
      • 1989, Margaret M[iriam] Esiri, D. R. Oppenheimer, “The Cut-up”, in Diagnostic Neuropathology: A Practical Manual, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Blackwell Scientific Publications, →ISBN, page 32, column 2:

        The division of fluid-filled cavities, or syrinxes, into those lined with ependyma (hydromyelia) and those not so lined (syringomyelia) is probably somewhat artificial.

      • 1990, W[alter] J[osef] Huk, “Malformations of the CNS [Central Nervous System]”, in W. J. Huk, G[ünther] Gademann, G[erd] Friedmann [et al.], translated by Terry Telger, Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Central Nervous System Diseases: Functional Anatomy—Imaging—Neurological Symptoms—Pathology, Berlin; Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg: Springer, →ISBN, part IV (Special Topics), page 164, column 1:

        The myelin around the syrinx shows changes similar to edematous white matter, probably due to tearing of the tissues and transudation of serous fluid into them.

      • 2024, N. Nevin, M. M. Danzi, E. Ulanowski, M. R. Wiegand, “Orthopaedic Neurology”, in Jeffrey D. Placzek, David A. Boyce, editors, Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Secrets, 4th edition, St. Louis, Mo.: Elsevier Health Sciences, →ISBN, page 161:

        A syrinx (Latin, "tube") is a neuroglial cell-lined, fluid-filled cavity ("syringomyelia" in the spinal cord; "syringobulbia" in the brain stem) possibly due to an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid, genetic malformations, or the proliferation and subsequent regression of embryonic cell nests. A syrinx within the central canal interrupts the decussating spinothalamic tract fibers resulting in bilateral loss of pain and temperature sensations around the level of the lesion.

   3. (ornithology, zootomy) The voice organ in birds, located at or near where the trachea and the bronchi join.

      Synonym: lower larynx

      • 1839, William MacGillivray, “Practical Ornithology. Fifth Lesson.”, in A History of British Birds, Indigenous and Migratory: […], volume II (Cantatores, Songsters), London: […] [W. Burness] for Scott, Webster, and Geary, […], →OCLC, page 19:

        This tube is named the Windpipe, Trachea, or Aspera-arteria; […] its lower extremity, or the part at which it bifurcates, is the Lower Larynx, or the Syrinx. Besides acting as a pipe to the lungs, it is also the organ of the voice, the air in passing through it causing its membranes so to vibrate, and being so acted upon by the muscles attached to it, as to give rise to the various cries and notes emitted by birds, although the palate, the tongue, and the mandibles also operate in modifying the sounds thus produced.

      • 1999, Irene Maxine Pepperberg, “How Does a Grey Parrot Produce Human Speech Sounds?”, in The Alex Studies: Cognitive and Communicative Abilities of Grey Parrots, Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, published 2002, →ISBN, page 293:

        The role of the syrinx in psittacine sound production is still under examination, and probably differs from that of songbirds. […] For species with relatively simple syringes but complex vocal behavior (such as Grey parrots), these data imply that other structures must modify syringeal output.

      • 2007, Gisela Kaplan, “Emotions, Vocal Behaviour and Communication”, in Tawny Frogmouth (Australian Natural History Series), Collingwood, Melbourne, Vic.: CSIRO Publishing, →ISBN, page 121:

        The primary sound-producing organ in a bird is the syrinx and the secondary system aiding sound production consists of the larynx, mouth, tongue and laryngeal muscles. […] Birds vocalise by expelling air over the elastic membranes of the syrinx housed within the inter-clavicular sac, an air sac in the pleural cavity.

      • 2010, Peter Simmons, David Young, “Nerve Cells and Animal Signalling: Songs of Crickets, Electric Fish and Birds”, in Nerve Cells and Animal Behaviour, 3rd edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 247:

        The organ responsible for producing sounds during song is the syrinx, located where the trachea joins the bronchi of the two lungs […]. Four to six muscles on either side are attached to the syrinx, and sound is produced when air is expelled through it. The flow of air induces part of the syrinx wall to vibrate and generate sound, in a similar way to the operation of the human larynx.

• subsyringeal
• syringeal
• tracheosyringeal

• syringo-
• syringometaplasia
• (neurology): syringobulbia, syringomyelia

• syrinx (bird anatomy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• syrinx (medicine) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• syrinx (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from Latin sȳrinx (“reed; reed pipe, panpipes”), from Ancient Greek σῦριγξ (sûrinx, “panpipes; pipe-shaped object”), from Pre-Greek.

• IPA^(key): /siː.rɪŋks/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: sy‧rinx

syrinx f (plural syrinxen or syringes)

1. (ornithology) syrinx (voice organ in birds)
2. (medicine) syrinx (fluid-filled neuroglial cavity)

From Latin sȳrinx, from Ancient Greek σῦριγξ (sûrinx, “pipe, tube, channel, fistula”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsyrinks/, [ˈs̠yriŋks̠]
• Rhymes: -yrinks
• Syllabification^(key): sy‧rinx

syrinx (rare)

1. Alternative spelling of syrinks

From the Ancient Greek σῦρῐγξ (sûrinx).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsyː.rinks/, [ˈs̠yːrɪŋks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.rinks/, [ˈsiːriŋks]
• Homophone: Sȳrinx

sȳrinx f (genitive sȳringos); third declension

1. reed, reed flute, reed pipe, pan flute, panpipe

Third-declension noun (Greek-type, normal variant).

• Catalan: xeringa, → siringa
• French: seringue
  • → English: syringe
• Italian: siringa
• Portuguese: siringe, siringa, seringa
• Spanish: siringe
• Translingual: Syringa

• 1 sȳrinx in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.: “1,535/1”
• “syrinx”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “syrinx”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• “syrinx”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin