Dictionary

malleus en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈmæl.i.əs/ (UK, US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Latin malleus (“hammer, mallet”). Doublet of maul.

Meanings

1. The small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear.
   • The tympanic cavity is spanned by the three smallest bones in the body: the auditory ossicles[…] These bones, named for their shape, are the malleus (malʹe-us; "hammer"); the incus (ingʹkus; "anvil"); and the stapes (staʹpēz; "stirrup"). The "handle" of the malleus is secured to the eardrum, and the base of the stapes fits into the oval window. 2010, Elaine N. Marieb, Katja Hoehn, Human Anatomy & Physiology, 8th edition, page 576:
   • A fracture of the malleus handle is a rare traumatic middle ear lesion.
2. The tripus (ossicle in cypriniform fishes).
3. One of the paired calcareous structures within the mastax of rotifers.
   • […] in the typical mastax of a Brachionus there are two hammer-like bodies (mallei), which work on a kind of split anvil (incus); […] each malleus consists of an upper part or head (uncus) and a lower or handle (manubrium); 1884, “Memoirs: An Attempt to re-classify the Rotifers”, in Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science 1884 s2-24, C.T.: Hudson, pages 335-356:

Forms

Deriveds

mallear · malleal · malleable · malleiform

Hypernyms

ossicle (bone of the middle ear) · otic bone (bone of the middle ear) · auditory bone (bone of the middle ear) · auditory ossicle (bone of the middle ear)

Synonyms

hammer (bone of the middle ear) · malleus Weberi · tripus

Translations (39)

hu kalapács (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · pl chitynowa płytka (part of the mastax of rotifers) · io marteleto (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · sl kladivce (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · ga casúirín (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · mk че́канче (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · cmn 錘骨 /锤骨 (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · el σφύρα (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · fi vasara (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · de Malleus (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · ru молото́чек (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · bg чукче (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · ga mailléas (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · vi xương búa (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · pl ząb (part of the mastax of rotifers) · de Hammer (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · es malleus (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · pl młoteczek (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · pl młoteczek (part of the mastax of rotifers) · fr malléus (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · fr marteau (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · pt martelo (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · tr çekiç (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · et vasar (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · af hamer (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · nb Hammer (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · mi hama (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · af hamerbeentjie (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · kmr çekûç (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · th กระดูกค้อน (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · ca martell (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · ar عُظيمة المطرقة (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · ko 추골 (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · ja 槌骨 (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · cs kladívko (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · fi vasaraluu (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · la malleus (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · ro ciocan (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear) · eo maleo (the small hammer-shaped bone of the middle ear)