Standard Lemma guide

cochlea

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɒk.li.ə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Atlantic-Canada, General-American: /ˈkoʊ.kli.ə/
  • Atlantic-Canada, General-American: /ˈkɑ.kli.ə/
  • Texas: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Canada, dialectal: /ˈkɒk.li.ə/ of the US
  • CMU ARPABET: K AA1 K L IY0 AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A spiral-shaped shell, especially that of a snail.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

the snail-shaped tube (in the inner ear coiled around the modiolus) where sound vibrations are converted into nerve impulses by the organ of Corti

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: tube, tube-shaped structure

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

34 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: koglea — Translations
  • Breton: kokleenn — Translations
  • Bulgarian: ушен охлюв (ušen ohljuv) — Translations
  • Catalan: còclea — Translations
  • Chinese Mandarin: 耳蝸 /耳蜗 — Translations
  • Czech: hlemýžď — Translations
  • Dutch: slakkenhuis — Translations
  • Finnish: simpukka — Translations
  • French: cochlée — Translations
  • German: Hörschnecke — Translations
  • Greek: κοχλίας (kochlías) — Translations
  • Hindi: कर्णावर्त (karṇāvart) — Translations
  • Hungarian: csiga — Translations
  • Icelandic: kuðungur — Translations
  • Ido: kokleo — Translations
  • Indonesian: koklea — Translations
  • Italian: coclea — Translations
  • Japanese: 蝸牛 (kagyū) — Translations
  • Northern Kurdish: lûlpêç — Translations
  • Norwegian: sneglehuset — Translations
  • Old English: ġewend — Translations
  • Persian: حلزون گوش (halazun-e guš) — Translations
  • Portuguese: caracol — Translations
  • Portuguese: cóclea — Translations
  • Russian: ули́тка (ulítka) — Translations
  • Sinhalese: කර්ණශංඛය (karṇaśaṁkhaya) — Translations
  • Spanish: cóclea — Translations
  • Swedish: hörselsnäcka — Translations
  • Swedish: öronsnäcka — Translations
  • Swedish: koklea — Translations
  • Tagalog: karakol — Translations
  • Thai: หูชั้นในรูปหอยโข่ง — Translations
  • Turkish: kulak salyangozu — Translations
  • Vietnamese: ốc tai — Translations