ossicle

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

ossicle

  • /ˈɒsɪkəl/

Where it comes from

Late 16th century, from Latin ossiculum (“little bone, ossicle”) from os (“bone”).

noun ossicles

  1. A small bone (or bony structure), especially one of the three of the middle ear. The incus is one of the three auditory ossicles.

    Similar: auditory bone, auditory ossicle, bonelet, ossicular chain, ossicule, ossiculum, otic bone

  2. One of numerous small calcareous structures forming the skeleton of certain echinoderms, as the starfishes. The skeleton of echinoderms is made of ossicles, linked to each other via muscles and connective tissue.
  3. One of the hard articuli or joints of the stem or branches of a crinoid or encrinite.
  4. One of the several small hard chitinous parts or processes of the gastric skeleton of crustaceans, as in the stomach of a lobster or crawfish.

Translations

Every language

noun small bone in the ear; auditory ossicle

Españolhuesecillo
Portuguêsossículo, ossinho
Françaisosselet
DeutschGehörknöchelchen
Italianoossicino

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"ossicle." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/ossicle. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

ossicle. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/ossicle

Chicago

"ossicle." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/ossicle.

BibTeX
@misc{ossicle_2026,
  title = {ossicle},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/ossicle},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}