Meaning

4 senses
  1. A small bone (or bony structure), especially one of the three of the middle ear.

    The incus is one of the three auditory ossicles.

    Gehörknöchelchen

    кі́сточкаkístočka

    a small bone; especially one in the middle ear

  2. Bone-like joint or plate.

    One of numerous small calcareous structures forming the skeleton of certain echinoderms, as the starfishes.

    The skeleton of echinoderms is made of ossicles, linked to each other via muscles and connective tissue.

  3. One of the hard articuli or joints of the stem or branches of a crinoid or encrinite.

  4. One of the several small hard chitinous parts or processes of the gastric skeleton of crustaceans, as in the stomach of a lobster or crawfish.

Translations

7 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
small bone in the ear; auditory ossicle:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
small bone in the ear; auditory ossicle:

Origin

Late 16th century, from Latin ossiculum (“little bone, ossicle”) from os (“bone”).

Late 16th century, from Latin ossiculum (“little bone, ossicle”) from os (“bone”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: ossicles
Singularossicle
Pluralossicles

regular

Synonyms

7 synonyms
boneletossiculumotic boneauditory boneauditory ossicleossicular chainossicule
Close in meaning

Word family

4 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
ossicle — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto