acetabulum
noun
Example Sentences
Sandra G. Boodman, chicagotribune.com, 16 May 2017 The head of the femur becomes abnormally shaped and no longer fits seamlessly in the acetabulum, or socket, putting the hip at risk of future injury. Sandra G. Boodman, chicagotribune.com, 16 May 2017 The head of the femur becomes abnormally shaped and no longer fits seamlessly in the acetabulum, or socket, putting the hip at risk of future injury. Sandra G. Boodman, chicagotribune.com, 16 May 2017 The head of the femur becomes abnormally shaped and no longer fits seamlessly in the acetabulum, or socket, putting the hip at risk of future injury. Sandra G. Boodman, chicagotribune.com, 16 May 2017 The head of the femur becomes abnormally shaped and no longer fits seamlessly in the acetabulum, or socket, putting the hip at risk of future injury. Sandra G. Boodman, chicagotribune.com, 16 May 2017 The head of the femur becomes abnormally shaped and no longer fits seamlessly in the acetabulum, or socket, putting the hip at risk of future injury. Sandra G. Boodman, Washington Post, 15 May 2017 See More Word History
borrowed from Latin acētābulum "small cup (originally used for vinegar), sucker of a polyp, socket of the hip bone," from acētum "vinegar" + -a- (by analogy with derivatives formed from verbs, as vocābulum vocable) + -bulum, instrument suffix (going back to Indo-European *-dhlom) — more at acetic acid
Note: Late Indo-European apparently possessed several deverbal instrumental suffixes of similar shape (*-dhlo-, *-tlo-, *-dhro-, *-tro-, perhaps all originally < *-tro-, zero-grade of the agent suffix -tor), which are unevenly attested and partially conflated in the daughter languages. Note in Latin rōstrum "beak, rostrum"; crībrum "sieve" (see cribriform); obstāculum obstacle; stabulum stable entry 1.
1661, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Medical Definition
acetabulum
noun