What does trachea mean?
Word: Trachea
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Trachea means the tube in your neck and chest that carries air between your throat and your lungs.
How do you spell trachea?
Syllables: tra - che - a
Tricky part: The k sound is spelt ch, as in school and chorus, so pupils who spell by sound write k or ck.
Watch out for: trakea, trackea, tracchea
Memory tip: This word reached English from Greek, and words from Greek usually write the k sound as ch.
Trachea in a sentence
Example 1: Air travels down your trachea every time you breathe in.
Example 2: In our biology project, Sana made a model trachea from a bendy straw.
Example 3: A giraffe has a very long trachea that runs all the way down its neck.
Fun Fact
The word comes from the Greek phrase tracheia arteria, 'rough artery'; some ancient Greek doctors believed it was a kind of artery that carried air.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
During the biology practical, Nikhil carefully labelled the trachia, the lungs and the ribs on a large chart of the human chest.
a) practical
b) trachia
c) chart
d) carefully
Show answer
b) trachia. The word ends in ea, not ia.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
In the diagram, the ahrceta splits into two smaller tubes, one for each lung.
a) trachea
b) starch
c) cheetah
d) teacher
Show answer
a) trachea. The jumble has two a's, and only trachea uses both of them.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word trachea as used in the sentence:
Our science teacher pointed to the trachea on the big plastic model of the chest.
a) gullet
b) eardrum
c) windpipe
d) backbone
Show answer
c) windpipe. Windpipe is the everyday name for the air tube; the gullet carries food instead.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word in the list.
1. nostrill 2. larinx 3. diaphram 4. trachea
a) the ringed tube that air passes along on its way to the lungs
b) the voice box at the top of the air tube
c) a sheet of muscle below the lungs that helps you breathe
d) one of the two openings in your nose
Show answer
a) the ringed tube that air passes along on its way to the lungs. Diaphragm has a silent g, larynx has a y, and nostril has only one l.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Rings of tough cartilage wrap around the trachea. Why are they useful?
a) They keep the tube open so air can always pass.
b) They carry blood up to the brain.
c) They help the stomach break down food.
d) They make the voice deeper and louder.
Show answer
a) They keep the tube open so air can always pass.
2. When you swallow, a small flap closes over the top of the trachea. What does this do?
a) It keeps the voice from shaking.
b) It lets extra air into the lungs.
c) It stops food from going down the airway.
d) It pushes the food back into the mouth.
Show answer
c) It stops food from going down the airway.
