• Ossicle

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /É’sɪkÉ™l/

    Origin

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

    Full definition of ossicle

    Noun

    ossicle

    (plural ossicles)
    1. (anatomy) A small bone (or bony structure), especially one of the three of the middle ear.The incus is one of the three auditory ossicles.
      • 1836, William Buckland, Geology and Mineralogy, Considered with Reference to Natural Theology, vol. 1, William Pickering, p. 174:The eyeballs were surrounded by a ring of bones, the sclerotic ossicle, which probably protected their eyes when diving abruptly for prey.
    2. (zoology) Bone-like joint or plate, especially:
      1. one of numerous small calcareous structures forming the skeleton of certain echinoderms, as the starfishes;
      2. one of the hard articuli or joints of the stem or branches of a crinoid or encrinite;
      3. 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.
      4. The skeleton of echinoderms is made of ossicles, linked to each other via muscles and connective tissue.

    Related terms

    See os.

    Anagrams

    © Wiktionary