Standard Lemma guide

rectal

adj · noun · 3 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.

  • /ˈrɛk.təl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R EH1 K T AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of, via or related to the rectum.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

Examples

  • The customs inspector subjected him to a rectal exam.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Ellipsis of rectal examination.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

of or involving the rectum

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • rectal cancer

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From rectum + -al.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: ректален (rektalen) — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Bulgarian: на правото черво (na pravoto červo) — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Chinese Mandarin: 直腸 /直肠 (zhícháng) — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Dutch: rectaal — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Dutch: rectum- — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Finnish: peräsuoli- — of, via or related to the rectum
  • French: rectal — of, via or related to the rectum
  • German: rektal — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Hebrew: רקטלי — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Hindi: मलाशयी (malāśyī) — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Irish: reicteach — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Italian: rettale — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Polish: doodbytniczy — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Polish: rektalny — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Portuguese: retal — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Russian: прямокише́чный (prjamokišéčnyj) — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Russian: ректа́льный (rektálʹnyj) — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Slovene: rektálen — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Spanish: rectal — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Swedish: ändtarms- — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Swedish: rektal — of, via or related to the rectum
  • Ukrainian: прямокишкови́й (prjamokyškovýj) — of, via or related to the rectum