ossicle
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents |
[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Late 16th century from Latin ossiculum ("little bone", "ossicle") from os ("bone").
[edit] Pronunciation
- IPA:/ɒsɪkəl/
[edit] Noun
ossicle (plural ossicles)
- (anatomy) A small bone (or bony structure), especially one of the three of the middle ear.
- The incus is one of the three auditory ossicles.
- 1836, William Buckland, Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology, vol. 1, William Pickering, p. 174:
- The eyeballs were surrounded by a ring of bones, the sclerotic ossicle, which probably protected their eyes when diving abruptly for prey.
- (zoology) Bone-like joint or plate, especially:
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- one of numerous small calcareous structures forming the skeleton of certain echinoderms, as the starfishes;
- one of the hard articuli or joints of the stem or branches of a crinoid or encrinite;
- 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.
- The skeleton of echinoderms is made of ossicles, linked to each other via muscles and connective tissue.
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[edit] Synonyms
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Related terms
See os.
[edit] Translations
small bone in the ear; auditory ossicle
