Etymology

cochlea

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Today it means: The complex, spirally coiled, tapered cavity of the inner ear of higher vertebrates, which contains the organ of Corti and in which sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses. Full definition →

Latin cochlea ← Ancient Greek κόχλιας
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The story

  1. Ancient Greek · derived fromκόχλιας“a snail with a spiral shell”
  2. Latin · borrowed fromcochlea“a snail”
  3. English todaycochlea

Borrowed from Latin cochlea (“a snail”), from Ancient Greek κόχλιας (kókhlias, “a snail with a spiral shell”).

Words from the same roots

Latincochlea all →

cochleiform

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.