labrum
1 Americannoun
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labra
plural
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a lip or liplike part.
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Zoology.
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the anterior, unpaired member of the mouthparts of an arthropod, projecting in front of the mouth.
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the outer margin of the aperture of a shell of a gastropod.
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Anatomy. a ring of cartilage about the edge of a joint surface of a bone.
noun
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labra
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of labrum1
1810–20; < Latin: lip; akin to labium
Origin of labrum2
< Latin lābrum basin, contraction of lavābrum bathtub, equivalent to lavā ( re ) to wash + -brum instrumental suffix
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:
First baseman Freddie Freeman was out of the lineup Monday managing right knee soreness, and second baseman Miguel Rojas was playing through shoulder soreness after aggravating a longstanding partial tear in a labrum.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
Luffy beetles have the dorsal ridge teeth found in this lineage, but their labrum is not completely sclerotized.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 4, 2026
The 25-year-old Kim suffered a torn labrum in her right shoulder in early January while training in Switzerland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 12, 2026
With just one competition under her belt this season, she dislocated her shoulder and sustained a torn labrum in what she described as the "silliest fall" in training in Switzerland last month.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
Labial lobes large, oval, contiguous with one another, at the tip of the labrum.
From Journal of Entomology and Zoology Volume 11, Number 4, December 1919 by Charles P. Alexander
Thomas was already playing with partially torn labra in both shoulders.
From New York Times ● Sep. 25, 2020
He acknowledged the cold truths about torn labra: They can’t heal on their own, and most players who suffer similar ruptures end up on the operating table.
From New York Times ● Apr. 2, 2019
First, they suggest that the anomalocaridid’s frontal appendages are analogous to the mouthparts, or labra, of arthropods.
From Nature ● Jul. 15, 2014
Verily, a speech worthy of the orator and of those who sent him, similes habent labra lactucas.
From Bartholomew Sastrow Being the Memoirs of a German Burgomaster by Bartholomew Sastrow
Many Latin neuter plurals were adopted into French as feminine singulars, e.g., cornua, corne, horn; labra, lèvre, lip; vela, voile, sail.
From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Ernest Weekley
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