Standard Lemma guide

areola

noun · 7 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /əˈɹi.ə.lə/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌæ.ɹiˈəʊ.lə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /əˈɹi.ə.lə/
  • General-American: /ˌɛɹ.iˈoʊ.lə/
  • General-American: /ˌæɹ.iˈoʊ.lə/
  • rhymes with -iələ
  • rhymes with -əʊlə

1

noun

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any small circular area that is different from its immediate environment, such as the colored ring around the pupil of the eye (iris) or an inflamed region surrounding a pimple.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Any of the small spaces throughout areolar connective tissue.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Any of the small spaces between fibres of the tissues of certain lichens.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Small patches, bearing the spines and glochids characteristic of the stems of cacti.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, botany, natural-sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

small circular area such as that around the human nipple or an inflamed area around a pimple or insect bite

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ring of color

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: area, region

7

noun

Meaning 7

small space in a tissue or body part such as the area between veins on a leaf or an insect's wing

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: interstice

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

47 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Antillean Creole: lantoun boutatété — circle around the nipple
  • Arabic: هَالَة (hāla) — circle around the nipple
  • Arabic: هالة (hāla) — circle around the nipple
  • Bengali: অ্যারিওলা (êriōla) — circle around the nipple
  • Catalan: arèola — circle around the nipple
  • Chinese Mandarin: 乳暈 /乳晕 (rǔyùn) — circle around the nipple
  • Czech: prsní dvorec — circle around the nipple
  • Czech: dvorec — circle around the nipple
  • Czech: areola — circle around the nipple
  • Dutch: tepelhof — circle around the nipple
  • Dutch: areola — circle around the nipple
  • Estonian: nännipiha — circle around the nipple
  • Finnish: nänninpiha — circle around the nipple
  • French: aréole — circle around the nipple
  • Galician: aréola — circle around the nipple
  • German: Warzenhof — circle around the nipple
  • Greek: άλως (álos) — circle around the nipple
  • Haitian Creole: areol — circle around the nipple
  • Hungarian: kis felület — circle around the nipple
  • Icelandic: vörtubaugur — circle around the nipple
  • Ido: areolo — circle around the nipple
  • Ilocano: binaklay — circle around the nipple
  • Indonesian: areola — circle around the nipple
  • Japanese: 乳輪 (nyūrin) — circle around the nipple
  • Korean: 유륜 (yuryun) — circle around the nipple
  • Korean: 그물코 틈 (geumulko teum) — circle around the nipple
  • Lithuanian: areolė — circle around the nipple
  • Māori: wāhi pūpango — circle around the nipple
  • Persian: هاله (hâle) — circle around the nipple
  • Polish: otoczka — circle around the nipple
  • Portuguese: aréola — circle around the nipple
  • Russian: арео́ла (areóla) — circle around the nipple
  • Serbo-Croatian: ареола — circle around the nipple
  • Serbo-Croatian: areola — circle around the nipple
  • Slovak: prsný dvorec — circle around the nipple
  • Slovak: dvorec — circle around the nipple
  • Spanish: areola — circle around the nipple
  • Swedish: vårtgård — circle around the nipple
  • Tamil: சிற்றிடம் (ciṟṟiṭam) — circle around the nipple
  • Telugu: చూచుకము (cūcukamu) — circle around the nipple
  • Thai: ปานนม — circle around the nipple
  • Turkish: areola — circle around the nipple
  • Turkish: meme aylası — circle around the nipple
  • Turkish: ağırşak — circle around the nipple
  • Vietnamese: quầng đỏ — circle around the nipple
  • Catalan: arèola — anatomy: small circular area in general
  • Finnish: rengas — anatomy: small circular area in general