TRACHEA

noun (plural ~e; also -cheas or -chea) Etymology: Middle English, from Medieval Latin, from Late Latin trachia, from Greek tracheia (artēria) rough (artery), from feminine of trachys rough Date: 14th century the main trunk of the system of tubes by which air passes to and from the lungs in vertebrates, vessel 3b, one of the air-conveying tubules forming the respiratory system of most insects and many other arthropods, ~l adjective