tympanum

English

Etymology

From Latin tympanum, from Ancient Greek τύμπανον (tumpanon), from τύπτω (tuptō, “I strike, I hit”).

Noun

tympanum (plural tympanums or tympana)

1. (architecture) A triangular space between the sides of a pediment.
2. (architecture) The space within an arch, and above a lintel or a subordinate arch, spanning the opening below the arch.
3. The middle ear.
4. The eardrum.
5. A hearing organ in frogs, toads and some insects.
6. (engineering) A drum-shaped wheel with spirally curved partitions by which water is raised to the axis when the wheel revolves with the lower part of the circumference submerged; used for raising water, as for irrigation.

Quotations

• 2005, Alan Hollinghurst, The Line of Beauty, Bloomsbury Publishing, paperback, page 9

  It was a black-and-white picture of a Romanesque doorway, with flanking saints and a lively Last Judgement in the tympanum [...].

Translations

triangular space between the sides of a pediment

• Catalan: timpà (ca) m
• Finnish: tympanon (fi), tympaani (fi)
• Greek: τύμπανο (el) (týmpano) n

• Icelandic: gaflflötur (is) m
• Italian: timpano (it) m

middle ear — see middle ear

eardrum — see eardrum

hearing organ

---

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τύμπανον (tumpanon).

Noun

tympanum (genitive tympanī); n, second declension

1. drum, timbrel, tambour, tambourine

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	tympanum	tympana
genitive	tympanī	tympanōrum
dative	tympanō	tympanīs
accusative	tympanum	tympana
ablative	tympanō	tympanīs
vocative	tympanum	tympana