The tube in your neck and chest that carries air from your throat down to your lungs; also called the windpipe.
It comes from Medieval Latin 'trachea', from Greek 'tracheia (artēria)', meaning 'rough artery', referring to its ridged surface. Over time, the word shortened to just mean the windpipe.
The trachea is held open by C-shaped rings of cartilage, like a flexible vacuum hose that never fully collapses. Every breath you take depends on this open tube, yet most people never notice it until something goes wrong.
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