palate

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The roof of the mouth in those vertebrates whose mouth cavity and nasal passages are wholly or partially separate.

The palate of mammals consists of two portions. The hard palate, more anterior in position, underlies the nasal cavity, whereas the soft palate hangs like a curtain between the mouth and nasal pharynx. The hard palate has an intermediate layer of bone. The oral surface of the hard palate is a mucous membrane, covered with a stratified squamous epithelium.

The soft palate is a backward continuation from the hard palate. Its free margin connects on each side with two folds of mucous membrane, the palatine arches, enclosing a palatine tonsil. In the midline the margin extends into a fingerlike projection named the uvula. The oral side of the soft palate continues as the covering of the hard palate, and the submucosa contains pure mucous glands.

Besides separating the nasal passages from the mouth, the hard palate is a firm plate, against which the tongue crushes and manipulates food. The soft palate, at rest, is pendant. In sucking, swallowing, or vomiting it is raised to separate the oral from the nasal portion of the pharynx. The closing action also occurs in speech, except for certain consonants requiring nasal resonance. See also Speech.

The colloquial link of ‘palate’ to taste, and thence more generally to fancy, liking, and pleasurable sensation, has a reasonable basis: the presence of sensory receptors for taste. There are however many more of these on the tongue than on the palate, and many of the subtleties of ‘taste’ are in fact dependent upon the sense of smell.

The palate is defined anatomically as the roof of the mouth. Its ‘hard’ component is part of the skull: a shelf of bone which separates the mouth from the nasal cavity, covered by mucous membrane. The ‘soft’ component extends back and downwards, to a free edge with the uvula at its centre; it consists of muscle ‘sandwiched’ within mucous membrane. The muscle takes part automatically in the complexities of swallowing.

An intact palate is necessary for speaking normally — as witness the interference with speech in the condition of ‘cleft palate’ — a congenital defect which goes along with harelip, representing a failure of embryonic tissues to join up appropriately.

— Sheila Jennett

See also cleft lip and palate; eating; swallowing; taste and smell.

The roof of the mouth. The palate separates the mouth from the nasal cavity.

The roof of the mouth.
The front portion braced by the upper jaw bones (maxillae) is known as the hard palate and forms the partition between the mouth and the nose. The fleshy part arching from the hard palate to the throat is called the soft palate and separates the oropharynx from the nasopharynx. When the animal swallows, the rear of the soft palate swings up against the back of the pharynx and blocks the passage of food and air to the nose. See also soft palate.

• cleft p. — see cleft lip.
• displaced p. — the soft palate of the horse, except during deglutition, rests below the epiglottis. It may be displaced and come to lie above the epiglottis, due either to hypoplasia of the epiglottis or paresis of the soft palate.
• midline defect of p. — see cleft lip.
• p. reflexes — swallowing caused by stimulation of the palate.

The bone and soft tissue that closes the space encompassed by the upper alveolar arch, extending posteriorly to the pharynx. The palate forms the “roof” of the mouth and connects to the nasal septum and floor of the nose in the midline.

• Mouth and Teeth - palate: roof of mouth, separating it from nasal cavity
• Tastes - palate: sense of taste

Not to be confused with palette (disambiguation) or pallet (disambiguation).

Palate
Head and neck.
Palate exhibiting torus palatinus.
Latin	palatum
Gray's	subject #242 1112
MeSH	Palate
Dorlands/Elsevier	Palate

The palate ( /ˈpælɨt/) is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity.^[1] A similar structure is found in crocodilians, but, in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separate. The palate is divided into two parts, the anterior bony hard palate, and the posterior fleshy soft palate or velum.^[2][3][4] The maxillary nerve branch of the trigeminal nerve (V) supplies sensory innervation to the palate.

The hard palate is formed before birth. If the fusion is not complete, it is called a cleft palate. As the roof of the mouth was once considered the seat of the sense of taste, palate can also refer to this sense itself, as in the phrase "a discriminating palate". By further extension, the flavor of a food (particularly beer or wine) may be called its palate, as when a wine is said to have an oaky palate.

Contents 1 Etymology 2 Function 3 See also 4 Footnotes 5 References

Etymology

The English synonyms palate and palatum, and also the related adjective palatine (as in palatine bone), are all from the Latin palatum via Old French palat, words which, like their English derivatives, refer to the "roof of the mouth."^[5]

The Latin word palatum and its derivatives mentioned above are all unrelated to a similar-sounding Latin word meaning palace, palatium, from which other senses of palatine and the English word palace itself derive.^[6]

Function

When functioning in conjunction with other parts of the mouth the palate produces certain sounds, particularly velar, palatal, palatalized, postalveolar, alveolo-palatal, and uvular consonants. ^[7]

See also

• Hard palate
• Soft palate
• Cleft palate
• Language
• Vocal tract
• pallet, palette and pellet, objects whose names are homophonous with palate for many English-speakers
• Palatability

Footnotes

1. ^ Wingerd, 166
2. ^ Wingerd, 478
3. ^ Clayman, 1995
4. ^ Gray's Anatomy, 1172
5. ^ Harper, Douglas (© 2001-2010). "palate (the entry for)" (in English). Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=palate&searchmode=none. Retrieved 10 September 2011. "palate - late 14c., 'roof of the mouth,' from O.Fr. palat, from L. palatum 'roof of the mouth,' perhaps of Etruscan origin. Popularly considered the seat of taste, hence transferred meaning 'sense of taste' (1520s)." 
6. ^ Harper, Douglas (© 2001-2010). "palatine (the entry for)" (in English). Online Etymology Dictionary. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=palatine&searchmode=none. Retrieved 10 September 2011. "palatine (adj.) - mid-15c., from M.Fr. palatin (15c.), from M.L. palatinus 'of the palace' (of the Caesars), from L. palatium (see palace). Used in English to mean 'quasi-royal authority.' Reference to the Rhineland state is from c.1580." 
7. ^ Gray's Anatomy, 1201

References

• Wingerd, Bruce D. (1994). The Human Body Concepts of Anatomy & Physiology. Saunders College Publishing. ISBN 0-03-055507-8. 
• Wingerd, Bruce (1994). The Human Body Concepts of Anatomy and Physiology. Fort Worth: Saunders College Publishing. pp. 166. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/0-03-055508-8|0-03-055508-8]]. 
• Goss, Charles Mayo (1966). Gray's Anatomy. Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger. pp. 1172. 
• Saladin, Kenneth (2010). Anatomy and Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function. New York: McGraw Hill. pp. 256. 
• Thompson, Gale (2005-2006). World of Anatomy and Physiology. Thompson Corporation. pp. Palate (Hard and Soft Palate). 

v t e Head and neck anatomy, digestive system: Mouth anatomy (TA A05.1–2, TH H3.04.01, GA 11.1110–2, 1125–1141) Mouth Oral cavity (including mucosa) Vestibule Lip (Upper, Lower, Vermilion border, Frenulum of lower lip, Labial commissure of mouth, Philtrum) Cheek (Buccal fat pad) OC proper Palate/ roof of mouth Hard palate · Soft palate · Palatine raphe · Incisive papilla Gingiva Interdental papilla · Gingival sulcus · Gingival margin · Free gingival margin · Gingival fibers · Junctional epithelium · Mucogingival junction · Sulcular epithelium · Stippling Periodontium: Cementum · Gingiva · Periodontal ligament Glands Parotid gland/Parotid duct · Submandibular gland/Submandibular duct · Sublingual gland/Major sublingual duct Teeth see tooth anatomy Tongue dorsum (Taste bud, Median sulcus, Terminal sulcus, Foramen cecum, Lingual tonsils) · underside (Frenulum, Fimbriated fold, Sublingual caruncle) · Anterior · Posterior · Glossoepiglottic folds · Lingual septum Oro-pharynx/ fauces Oropharyngeal isthmus/Isthmus of the fauces Soft palate (Uvula, Palatoglossal arch, Palatopharyngeal arch, Plica semilunaris of the fauces) Tonsillar fossa Palatine tonsil M: MOU anat/devp noco/cofa(c)/cogi/tumr, sysi proc (peri), drug (A1)

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - gane

Nederlands (Dutch)
gehemelte, smaak, voorkeur

Français (French)
n. - (Anat) palais, goût

Deutsch (German)
n. - Gaumen, Geschmack

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ανατ.) ουρανίσκος, υπερώα, (μτφ.) γεύση

Italiano (Italian)
palato, gusto

Português (Portuguese)
n. - palato (m)

Русский (Russian)
небо, вкусовое ощущение

Español (Spanish)
n. - paladar, velo del paladar, gusto

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - gom

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
上颚, 趣味, 味觉

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 上顎, 趣味, 味覺

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 구개, 미각, 취미

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 口蓋, 味覚, 好み

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) سقف, سقف الحلق, ذوق, حاسه ذوق‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮חך, חוש טעם, נטייה‬

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