cochlea

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cochlea (“a snail”), from Ancient Greek κόχλιας (kókhlias, “a snail with a spiral shell”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒk.li.ə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American, Atlantic Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈkoʊ.kli.ə/, /ˈkɑ.kli.ə/

  • Audio (Texas):

    (file)

• (Canada, dialects of the US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒk.li.ə/

Noun

cochlea (plural cochleae or cochleas)

2. (anatomy) The complex, spirally coiled, tapered cavity of the inner ear of higher vertebrates, which contains the organ of Corti and in which sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses.
3. A spiral-shaped shell, especially that of a snail.

Derived terms

• cochlear
• cochleitis

Translations

Translations

• Afrikaans: koglea
• Breton: kokleenn f
• Bulgarian: ушен охлюв (ušen ohljuv)
• Catalan: còclea (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 耳蝸 / 耳蜗 (zh) (ěrwō or ěrguā [Taiwan])

• Czech: hlemýžď (cs) m
• Dutch: slakkenhuis (nl) n
• Finnish: simpukka (fi)
• French: cochlée (fr) f
• German: Hörschnecke
• Greek: κοχλίας (el) m (kochlías)
• Hindi: कर्णावर्त (karṇāvart)
• Hungarian: csiga (hu)
• Icelandic: kuðungur (is) m
• Ido: kokleo (io)
• Indonesian: koklea (id)
• Italian: coclea (it) f
• Japanese: 蝸牛 (ja) (かぎゅう, kagyū)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: lûlpêç m

• Norwegian: sneglehuset
• Old English: ġewend n
• Persian: حلزون گوش (halazun-e guš)
• Portuguese: caracol (pt) m, cóclea (pt) f
• Russian: ули́тка (ru) f (ulítka)
• Sinhalese: කර්ණශංඛය (karṇaśaṁkhaya)
• Spanish: cóclea (es) f
• Swedish: hörselsnäcka (sv) c, öronsnäcka (sv) c, koklea (sv)
• Tagalog: karakol
• Thai: หูชั้นในรูปหอยโข่ง
• Turkish: kulak salyangozu
• Vietnamese: ốc tai

References

• “cochlea”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cochlea”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Latin

Alternative forms

• coclea, coclia, cochlia

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek κόχλος (kókhlos)

Ancient Greek -ῐ́ᾱς (-ĭ́ās)

Ancient Greek κοχλῐ́ᾱς (kokhlĭ́ās)bor.

Latin cochlea

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κοχλῐ́ᾱς (kokhlĭ́ās, “snail with a spiral shell”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔ.kʰɫe.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔː.kle.a]

Noun

cochlea f (genitive cochleae); first declension

1. snail

   in cochleam ― snail-shaped, in the shape of a spiral

   1. snailshell
2. (metonymic)
   1. spiral (form of a snailshell)
   2. screw of a press
   3. Archimedes' screw, water screw, screw pump (machine for drawing water by raising it)
   4. A kind of revolving door.

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	cochlea	cochleae
genitive	cochleae	cochleārum
dative	cochleae	cochleīs
accusative	cochleam	cochleās
ablative	cochleā	cochleīs
vocative	cochlea	cochleae

Derived terms

• coc(h)lear
• coc(h)leārium
• coc(h)leātim
• coc(h)leātus

Descendants

Descendants

• Through Vulgar *coccia:
  • Italo-Romance:
    • Italian: coccia, cozza
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Old French: cosse
      • French: cosse
      • → Breton: kos, klosen
• Borrowings:
  • → Catalan: còclea
  • → English: cochlea
  • → Italian: coclea
  • → Portuguese: cóclea
  • → Spanish: cóclea

References

• “cochlea” on page 373 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)

Further reading

• “cochlea”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cochlea”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cochlea”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “cochlea”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cochlea”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Welsh

Etymology

Borrowed from English cochlea.

Noun

cochlea m (plural cochleâu)

1. (anatomy) cochlea

   Synonym: cogwrn clust (literally “ear's shell”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of cochlea

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cochlea	gochlea	nghochlea	chochlea

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• D. G. Lewis, N. Lewis, editors (2005–present), “cochlea”, in Gweiadur: the Welsh–English Dictionary, Gwerin