Etymology

malleolus

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Today it means: The bony prominence with a shape likened to a hammerhead, especially each of those at the distal end of the fibula or tibia, on either side of the ankle joint. Full definition →

Latin malleolus
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The story

  1. Latin · borrowed frommalleolus“a small hammer or mallet”
  2. English todaymalleolus

Borrowed from Latin malleolus (“a small hammer or mallet”); itself from malleus (“a hammer, mallet”) + -olus (“diminutive suffix”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.