cerumen
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- ceruminous adjective
Etymology
Origin of cerumen
1735–45; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin cēr ( a ) wax + ( alb ) umen albumen
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Like humans, cetaceans — whales, dolphins, porpoises — produce ear wax, and in certain species, this wax, or cerumen, builds up over their lifetime.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2022
Shell's plans to explore for oil off of South Africa's eastern shore, near a region known as the Wild Coast, threatened to etch in the cerumen of so many whales a dark new chapter.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2022
In addition to affecting cerumen type, this mutation also reduces sweat production.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015
The growth of two fungi commonly present in otomycosis was also significantly inhibited by human cerumen.
From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015
In the external auditory canal of the ear is produced the cerumen or ear-wax.
From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 1: Deposition to Eberswalde by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.