tympanum
Meanings
noun
- A drum.
- Any of various anatomic structures in various animals with analogy to a drum head:
- The eardrum (tympanic membrane, membrana tympanica).
- The main portion of the middle ear: the tympanic cavity (cavitas tympani).
- A thin tense membrane covering the hearing organ on the leg or body of some insects, sometimes adapted (as in cicadas) for producing sound.
- A membranous resonator in a sound-producing organ in frogs and toads.
- (in certain birds) The labyrinth at the bottom of the windpipe.
- 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.
- 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.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin tympanum (“a drum, timbrel, tambourine; the eardrum”). Doublet of timbre, timpani, timbal, and tymbal.
Derived words
Translations
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