Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Cochlea
/ˈkɒkliə/noun
The spiral cavity of the inner ear that turns vibration into nerve signals.
The Greek roots
κοχλίας
kokhlías
spiral-shelled snail, screw
Literally: “snail shell”
Follow a root:κοχλίας1 word
The story of the word
κοχλίας is a snail with a spiral shell, and Greek used the same word for the screw, which is why the Archimedes water-lifting screw is a κοχλίας. Anatomists of the 17th century gave the name to the coiled chamber of the inner ear, which turns two and a half times. Sound is sorted by pitch along its length, high notes at the mouth and low notes at the tip, an arrangement cochlear implants have to imitate electrode by electrode.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
In a sentence
The hair cells in the cochlea do not grow back, which is why loud years cost you later.