areola

Definition

The circular, darkly pigmented area surrounding a nipple; the areola mammae.

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin āreola (“small vacant space, garden”), diminutive of ārea. Doublet of areole.

Example Sentences

• "Working with the Personal Genome Project, she has collected measurements and images of the areolas of 150 people so far. One initial finding is that the diameter of the areola seems unrelated to the number of areola glands — the small bumps in the skin surrounding the nipple."
• "The tubes or elongated spaces of which we have spoken, are not distended with any fluid, but are merely moistened in the same way as the areolas of ordinary areolar tissue."
• "Every pulvillus or areola is studded with from six to eight spines... From these pulvilli, also called spiniferous areola, or very close to it, burst the young bud or flower. If the latter, it is then called the floriferous areola, and the point where the epidermis bursts is of a deep pink tinge."

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