the.com/ossicle
three bones smaller than rice grains stand between you and total silence
means An ossicle is a tiny bone, especially one of the three minuscule bones in the middle ear—the malleus, incus, and stapes—that transmit sound vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear.
from From Latin 'ossiculum,' a 'little bone,' the diminutive of 'os' (bone). That same 'os' gives us 'osseous' and 'ossify'; the '-cle' is the shrinking suffix, the same one that turns a particle into something small. So an ossicle is, quite literally and tenderly, just a bonelet.
- smallest bone
- the stapes is your body's tiniest bone
- full size
- all three form fully before birth
- names
- hammer, anvil, stirrup translated from Latin
- sound relay
- they amplify vibrations onto the inner ear
- never grow
- these bones stay the same size lifelong
for instance
stapes — smallest bone in human body at 2.8mm, located in middle ear
malleus — hammer-shaped ossicle attached to eardrum in all mammals
incus — anvil-shaped bone connecting malleus and stapes in middle ear