ossicone

O1S1S1I1C3O1N1E1
/ˈɒsɪkəʊn/

noun

Either of the horn-like protuberances on the heads of giraffes and male okapi. Some extinct species in the family bore antler-like ossicones.

OriginMiddle French cone ← Latin cōnus ← Ancient Greek κῶνος →
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Meanings

nounossicone (plural ossicones)

plural ossicones

  1. Either of the horn-like protuberances on the heads of giraffes and male okapi. Some extinct species in the family bore antler-like ossicones.

    The Kanapoi Sivatherium has two pairs of ossicones, above the eye and between the ears, and neither is diminutive.

    2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 27

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekκῶνος“cone, spinning top, pine cone”
  2. Latincōnus“cone, wedge, peak”
  3. Middle Frenchcone
  4. Englishossicone

From Latin os (“bone”) and Middle French cone, from Latin cōnus (“cone, wedge, peak”), from Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone, spinning top, pine cone”).

More words from Middle French, Latin, Ancient Greek

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

French ossicône
  • ossicônehorn-like protuberance
German Stirnzapfen, Knochenzapfen
  • Stirnzapfenhorn-like protuberance
  • Knochenzapfenhorn-like protuberance
Italian ossicono
  • ossiconohorn-like protuberance
Spanish osicono
  • osiconohorn-like protuberance

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

coenosis
Cite this entry
APA

ossicone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ossicone

MLA

“ossicone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ossicone. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ossicone,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ossicone.

Source: ossicone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.