The palate 's the roof of the mouth in humans and vertebrate animals. It separates the oral cavity from the nasal cavity. The palate's divided into two parts, the anterior bony hard palate, and the posterior fleshy soft palate or velum. The maxillary nerve branch of the trigeminal nerve (V) supplies sensory innervation to the palate. 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"… (More on Palate)