Nozzle

How to spell nozzle

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce nozzle

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does nozzle mean?

1. nounA projecting spout or tip on a hose, pipe, or container that controls and directs the flow of liquid, gas, or spray.

Nozzle in a sentence

• The garden hose leaked because the nozzle was cracked.

• She adjusted the nozzle to switch from a fine mist to a steady jet.

Where does nozzle come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Nozzle is a homely English word that began life as a small, affectionate version of 'nose'. The base 'nose' comes from the Old English 'nosu', the word for that projecting part of the face, which traces back to a shared Germanic root also seen in German 'Nase' and Dutch 'neus'. In the early 1600s English speakers added the diminutive ending '-le', literally meaning 'a little nose', to describe the projecting spout or snout of a pipe, bellows, or pump. The image is wonderfully direct: a nozzle is the small nose-like tip through which a fluid is squirted or sprayed. The doubled 'z' in the spelling reflects the short, sharp vowel before it, which is the part writers most often hesitate over, since the single-vowel sound tempts a single 'z'.

How the word is built

• nozz- (from nose: the projecting spout)
• -le (diminutive suffix)