Teat

Nipple
A nipple, areola and breast of a human female.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	papilla mammaria
TA	A16.0.02.004
FMA	67771
Anatomical terminology []

In its most general form, a nipple is a structure from which a fluid emanates. More specifically, it is the projection on the breasts or udder of a mammal by which, in females, breast milk is delivered to a mother's young. In this sense, it is often called a teat, especially when referring to non-humans, and the medical term used to refer to it is papilla. A breast or nipple is sometimes called a "pap". The rubber mouthpiece of a baby bottle or pacifier may also be referred to as a "nipple" or a "teat". In humans, nipples of both males and females are also one of the erogenous zones. In many cultures, human female nipples are sexualized and it is considered a taboo or a public indecency to uncover them in public.

The word "nipple" most likely originates as a diminutive of neb, an Old English word meaning "beak", "nose", or "face", and which is of Germanic origin. The words "teat" and "tit" share a Germanic ancestor. The second of the two, tit, was inherited directly from Proto-Germanic, while the first entered English via Old French.

In the anatomy of mammals, a nipple, mammary papilla or teat is a small projection of skin containing the outlets for 15–20 lactiferous ducts arranged cylindrically around the tip. The skin of the nipple is rich in a supply of special nerves that are sensitive to certain stimuli: these are slowly-adapting and rapidly-adapting cutaneous mechanocepetors. Mechanoreceptors are identified respectively by Type I slowly-adapting with multiple Merkel corpuscle end-organs and Type II slowly-adapting with single Ruffini corpuscle end-organs, as well as Type I rapidly-adapting with multiple Meissner corpuscle end-organs and Type II rapidly-adapting with single Pacinian corpuscle end-organs.