Dictionary

tympanum en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˈtɪm.pən.əm/

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tympanum (“a drum, timbrel, tambourine; the eardrum”). Doublet of timbre, timpani, timbal, and tymbal.

Meanings

1. (archaic) A drum.
2. Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head: ▸ The eardrum (tympanic membrane, membrana tympanica).
   • When he came around, the star sound was gone. The ringing it left in his tympana was a great confusion. 2020 [1992], Vernor Vinge, chapter 2, in A Fire Upon the Deep, 1st edition, New York: Tor Essentials, →ISBN, page 33:
3. Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head: ▸ The main portion of the middle ear: the tympanic cavity (cavitas tympani).
4. Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head: ▸ A thin tense membrane covering the hearing organ on the leg or body of some insects, sometimes adapted (as in cicadas) for producing sound.
5. Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head: ▸ A membranous resonator in a sound-producing organ in frogs and toads.
6. Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head: ▸ (in certain birds) The labyrinth at the bottom of the windpipe.
7. A vertical recessed triangular space between the sides of a pediment, typically decorated.
8. A vertical recessed triangular space between the sides of a pediment, typically decorated. ▸ The recessed triangular space within an arch, and above a lintel or a subordinate arch, spanning the opening below the arch.
   • It was a black-and-white picture of a Romanesque doorway, with flanking saints and a lively Last Judgement in the tympanum […]. 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:
9. A drum-shaped wheel with spirally curved partitions by which water is raised to the axis when the wheel revolves with the lower part of the circumference submerged; used for raising water, as for irrigation.

Forms

Deriveds

epitympanum · hemotympanum · tympanic · haematotympanum · hematotympanum · mesotympanum · pseudotympanum · haemotympanum · hypotympanum

Translations (42)

be тымпан (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · el τύμπανο (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · uz timpanum (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · sv tympan (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · hu timpanon (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · da tympanon (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · fi tympanon (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · cmn 鼓室 (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · vi màng nhĩ (hearing organ) · pl tympanon (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · kn ಟೈಂಪಾನಮ್ (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · az təmpanum (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · mk тимпан (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · kk тимпанум (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · ro timpan (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · bn মধ্যকর্ণ (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · nl timpaan (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · ar قَلْب القَوْصَرَة (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · de Tympanum (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · ca timpà (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · it timpano (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · hi कान का पर्दा (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · de Tympanum (hearing organ) · pl narząd bębenkowy (hearing organ) · vi chứng màng nhĩ (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · lb Tympanum (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · th หูตอนใน (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · ko 진동판 (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · tl timpano (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · sv tympanon (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · he תוֹף הַאוֹזֶן (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · pl aparat tympanalny (hearing organ) · yi טימפּאַנום (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · pl narząd tympanalny (hearing organ) · bg тимпан (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · pt tímpano (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · is gaflflötur (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · az timpan (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · fi tympaani (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · vi màng tai (hearing organ) · ru тимпан (triangular space between the sides of a pediment) · tr kulak davulu (triangular space between the sides of a pediment)