Etymology

Noun

1. A set of pan-pipes.
   • 1982, John Fowles, Mantissa:

     Actually, to cut a long story short, he began...well, playing with a rather different sort of pipe. Or syrinx, as we called it. He obviously thought he was alone.

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 247:

     Inside, somebody was playing a duet on syrinx and lyre.

2. A narrow channel cut in rock, especially in ancient Egyptian tombs.
3. The voice organ in birds.
4. A a rare, fluid-filled neuroglial cavity within the spinal cord or in the brain stem