otolith

English

Alternative forms

• otolite

Etymology

From oto- +‎ -lith, from Ancient Greek ὠτο- (ōto-), stem of οὖς (oûs, “ear”), and λίθος (líthos, “stone”).

Noun

otolith (plural otoliths)

1. (zoology) A small particle, comprised mainly of calcium carbonate, found in the inner ear of vertebrates, being part of the balance sense.

   Synonyms: otoconium, otosteon, statoconium, statolith

   Hyponyms: canalith, canalolith

Usage notes

Do not confuse otoliths (small stones in the inner ear as part of the vestibular sense) with ossicles (small bones in the middle ear as part of the auditory sense).

Derived terms

• otolithic
• otolithometry

Translations

small particle in the inner ear

• Basque: otolito
• Belarusian: аталіт m (atalit)
• Catalan: otòlit m
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 耳石 (hīⁿ-chio̍h)

  Mandarin: 耳石 (zh) (ěrshí)

• Czech: otolit m
• Danish: otolit c, øresten c
• Dutch: otoliet (nl) m
• Esperanto: otolito
• Estonian: otoliid
• Finnish: tasapainokivi, otoliitti (fi)
• French: otolithe (fr) m
• Galician: otólito (gl) m
• German: Otolith m
• Hungarian: otolit
• Icelandic: kvörn (is) f, stöðusteinn m, eyrnavala f, jafnvægiskorn n
• Ido: otolito (io)
• Indonesian: otolit
• Italian: otolite m
• Japanese: 耳石 (じせき, jiseki)
• Kyrgyz: отолит (otolit)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: otolitt m

  Nynorsk: otolitt m

• Polish: otolit m
• Romanian: otolit (ro) n
• Russian: отоли́т (ru) m (otolít)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ото̀лӣт m

  Roman: otòlīt (sh) m

• Spanish: otolito (es) m
• Swedish: otolit (sv) c, öronsten (sv) c
• Ukrainian: отоліт m (otolit)