malleolus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin malleolus (“a small hammer or mallet”); itself from malleus (“a hammer, mallet”) +‎ -olus (“diminutive suffix”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /maˈliː.əl.əs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /məˈliː.əl.əs/
• Rhymes: -iːələs

Noun

malleolus (plural malleoli or malleoluses)

1. (anatomy) The bony prominence with a shape likened to a hammerhead, especially each of those at the distal end of the fibula or tibia, on either side of the ankle joint.

   Meronyms: lateral malleolus, medial malleolus, posterior malleolus

Derived terms

• malleolar (adjective)

Translations

Translations

• Catalan: mal·lèol (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 踝 (zh) (huái)

• Danish: maleol c
• Finnish: kehräsluu (fi)
• French: malléole (fr) m
• Ingrian: jalkamuna, kedräsluu, nikan
• Italian: malleolo (it) m
• Japanese: 踝 (ja) (くるぶし, kurubushi)
• Romagnol: cavèja f
• Spanish: maléolo (es) m
• Swedish: fotknöl (sv) c, ankel (sv) c
• Thai: ตาตุ่ม (dta-dtum)
• Ukrainian: кі́сточка f (kístočka)

References

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

Latin

Etymology

From malleus (“a hammer, mallet”) +‎ -olus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /malˈle.o.lus/, [mälˈlʲeɔɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /malˈle.o.lus/, [mälˈlɛːolus]

Noun

malleolus m (genitive malleolī); second declension

1. Diminutive of malleus:
   1. A small hammer or mallet.
   2. (horticulture) A hammer-shaped slip, a mallet-shoot.
   3. (weaponry) A kind of fire-dart.
   4. The tongue of a shoe buckle.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	malleolus	malleolī
Genitive	malleolī	malleolōrum
Dative	malleolō	malleolīs
Accusative	malleolum	malleolōs
Ablative	malleolō	malleolīs
Vocative	malleole	malleolī

Descendants

• Catalan: mallol, → mal·lèol
• → English: malleolus
• → French: malléole
• Galician: amalló
• Italian: magliolo, → malleolo
• Romanian: măior
• Spanish: majuelo, → maléolo

References

• “malleolus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “malleolus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• malleolus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “malleolus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers