stapes

American  

[stey-peez] / ˈsteɪ piz /

noun

Anatomy.

plural

stapes, stapedes

1. the innermost, stirrup-shaped bone of a chain of three small bones in the middle ear of humans and other mammals, involved in the conduction of sound vibrations to the inner ear.

---

stapes British  

/ ˈsteɪpiːz, stæˈpiːdɪəl /

noun

1. Nontechnical name: stirrup bone.  the stirrup-shaped bone that is the innermost of three small bones in the middle ear of mammals Compare incus malleus

---

stapes Scientific  

/ stā′pēz /

plural

stapes

1. The roughly stirrup-shaped bone that is the innermost of the three small bones (ossicles) of the middle ear.

---

Other Word Forms

• stapedial adjective

Etymology

Origin of stapes

First recorded in 1660–70; from New Latin stapēs, Medieval Latin: “stirrup,” perhaps etymologizing alteration of Italian staffa “stirrup” (from Germanic ) by association with Latin stāre “to stand,” and pēs, stem ped- “foot”; foot

Example Sentences

Because a smaller and lighter stapes can vibrate more rapidly, it can transfer high-frequency sound waves more effectively.

From Science Daily • Mar. 12, 2026

Medicals historians have speculated that otosclerosis—a condition in which a tiny ear bone called the stapes fuses with other parts of the ear—might have been responsible for Beethoven’s hearing loss.

From Scientific American • Mar. 23, 2023

Inside the Eustachian tube the malleus, which touches the inside of the tympanum, is attached to the incus, which is in turn attached to the horseshoe-shaped stapes.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

Mammals have three: the malleus, incus, and stapes.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

One of his students advised him that Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia, who was teaching in Naples, had already discovered this bone and named it stapes, or ‘the stirrup’.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton