The specific Latin names of the ossicles of the middle ear, along with their English translations, are: malleus (hammer) incus (anvil) and stapes (stirrups.) Not surprisingly, these bones resemble their names.

Os"si*cle (?), n. [L. ossiculum, dim. of os, ossis, a bone.]

1.

A little bone; as, the auditory ossicles in the tympanum of the ear.

2. Zool.

One of numerous small calcareous structures forming the skeleton of certain echinoderms, as the starfishes.

 

© Webster 1913.

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