Standard Lemma guide

otolith

noun · 1 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

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No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A small particle, composed mainly of calcium carbonate, found in the inner ear of vertebrates, being part of the balance sense.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: otoconium, otosteon, statoconium, statolith

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From oto- + -lith, from Ancient Greek ὠτο- (ōto-), stem of οὖς (oûs, “ear”), and λίθος (líthos, “stone”).

Across languages

Translations

39 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Basque: otolito — small particle in the inner ear
  • Belarusian: аталіт (atalit) — small particle in the inner ear
  • Catalan: otòlit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Chinese: 耳石 (hīn-chio̍h) — small particle in the inner ear
  • Chinese Mandarin: 耳石 (ěrshí) — small particle in the inner ear
  • Czech: otolit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Danish: otolit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Danish: øresten — small particle in the inner ear
  • Dutch: otoliet — small particle in the inner ear
  • Esperanto: otolito — small particle in the inner ear
  • Estonian: otoliid — small particle in the inner ear
  • Finnish: tasapainokivi — small particle in the inner ear
  • Finnish: otoliitti — small particle in the inner ear
  • French: otolithe — small particle in the inner ear
  • Galician: otólito — small particle in the inner ear
  • German: Otolith — small particle in the inner ear
  • Hungarian: otolit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Hungarian: mészkristályok — small particle in the inner ear
  • Icelandic: kvörn — small particle in the inner ear
  • Icelandic: stöðusteinn — small particle in the inner ear
  • Icelandic: eyrnavala — small particle in the inner ear
  • Icelandic: jafnvægiskorn — small particle in the inner ear
  • Ido: otolito — small particle in the inner ear
  • Indonesian: otolit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Italian: otolite — small particle in the inner ear
  • Japanese: 耳石 (jiseki) — small particle in the inner ear
  • Kyrgyz: отолит (otolit) — small particle in the inner ear
  • Norwegian Bokmål: otolitt — small particle in the inner ear
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: otolitt — small particle in the inner ear
  • Polish: otolit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Romanian: otolit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Russian: отоли́т (otolít) — small particle in the inner ear
  • Serbo-Croatian: ото̀лӣт — small particle in the inner ear
  • Serbo-Croatian: otòlīt — small particle in the inner ear
  • Slovak: otolit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Spanish: otolito — small particle in the inner ear
  • Swedish: otolit — small particle in the inner ear
  • Swedish: öronsten — small particle in the inner ear
  • Ukrainian: отоліт (otolit) — small particle in the inner ear