An opening or hole, especially one in the body through which something enters or exits, like a mouth or nostril.
From Latin 'orificium,' combining 'os' (mouth) and 'facere' (to make). It entered English in the 1300s as a formal, anatomical term for any bodily opening.
Latin gave us 'orifice' as the formal scientific word, but English kept the blunt Old English 'hole' and 'mouth' as everyday words—it's how languages create social registers: use 'orifice' in a medical lecture, 'mouth' with friends.
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