Trommelfell

German

Etymology

From Trommel (“drum”) +‎ Fell (“animal skin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʁɔməlˌfɛl/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Noun

Trommelfell n (strong, genitive Trommelfelles or Trommelfells, plural Trommelfelle)

1. (music) drumhead
2. (anatomy) eardrum

Usage notes

• The anatomic sense—though etymologically a figurative use of the musical one—is now so predominant that there is a tendency to use other compounds for “drumhead”, such as Trommelbespannung, Trommelhaut, Trommelmembran, etc.

Declension

Declension of Trommelfell [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Trommelfell	die	Trommelfelle
genitive	eines	des	Trommelfelles, Trommelfells	der	Trommelfelle
dative	einem	dem	Trommelfell, Trommelfelle1	den	Trommelfellen
accusative	ein	das	Trommelfell	die	Trommelfelle

¹Now rare, see notes.

Further reading

• “Trommelfell” in Duden online