cornea
Americannoun
-
corneas
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of cornea
1350–1400; Middle English < Medieval Latin cornea ( tēla, later tunica ) horny (web or tunic), feminine of corneus corneous
Explanation
Your cornea is part of your eyeball — specifically, it's the clear layer that covers your whole iris and pupil. Without a cornea (or two), you wouldn't be able to see. This transparent dome focuses light as it passes through, as well as protecting the rest of the eye from injury. If you've ever gotten a little scratch on your eyeball, that's called a corneal abrasion and it usually heals itself quickly. The Latin root of cornea means "horn-like web or sheath," from an ancient Greek belief that it resembled a thin slice of an animal's horn.
Vocabulary lists containing cornea
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
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Man Made Monsters
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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.
See Examples For:
Within about a minute, the curvature of the cornea shifted to match the shape of the platinum lens.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
In every one of those "myopic" eyes, EMR changed the cornea enough to reach the intended focusing power.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
That led researchers to consider a very different question: Could the cornea be reshaped without cutting it at all?
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
Those could potentially include near- and far-sightedness and astigmatism, a common condition caused by an irregularly shaped cornea or lens.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 29, 2026
It was a living eye, the cornea a little bloodshot, the eyelashes luxuriant, the skin underneath coffee- stained and pouchy.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
In those eyes, the corneas successfully achieved the intended focusing power that would correspond to improved vision.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
A new person of interest emerges in Otis Heiss, a German national with a murky record who was admitted to the hospital with burns on his corneas, ruptured eardrums and self-inflicted bite marks.
From New York Times ● Feb. 4, 2024
The statute covers eyes, corneas, kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, pancreases, bones and skin.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2023
Among the body parts that can be donated after death are the heart, pancreas, corneas, lungs, kidneys and liver.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2023
“Scientists can even grow corneas now,” I told him, reaching into my bag for an article I’d clipped from a newspaper.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
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.
