What is the palate?
Q: What is the palate?
A: The palate is the roof of the mouth in humans and other mammals.
Q: What separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity in mammals?
A: The palate separates the oral cavity (mouth) from the nasal cavity in mammals.
Q: Are the oral and nasal cavities separate in most tetrapods?
A: No, in most other tetrapods, the oral and nasal cavities are not truly separate.
Q: How is the palate divided in humans and other mammals?
A: The palate is divided into two parts, the anterior bony hard palate, and the posterior fleshy soft palate or velum.
Q: What is a cleft palate?
A: If the fusion of the hard palate is not complete before birth, it is called a cleft palate. This is a birth or congenital defect.
Q: Can palate refer to the sense of taste?
A: Yes, as the roof of the mouth was once considered the seat of the sense of taste, palate can also refer to this sense itself, as in the phrase "a discriminating palate".
Q: How can the flavour of a food be referred to as palate?
A: By further extension, the flavour of a food (particularly beer or wine) may be called its palate.
