Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Either of the two rounded protuberances on each side of the ankle, the inner formed by a projection of the tibia and the outer by a projection of the fibula.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In anatomy, a bony protuberance on either side of the ankle.
  • noun In botany, a layer; a shoot bent into the ground and half divided at the bend, whence it emits roots.
  • noun [capitalized] In conch., a genus of bivalve shells.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Anat.) A projection at the distal end of each bone of the leg at the ankle joint. The malleolus of the tibia is the internal projection, that of the fibula the external.
  • noun “ A layer, ” a shoot partly buried in the ground, and there cut halfway through.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The bony prominence on each side of the ankle joint.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin, from Latin, diminutive of malleus, hammer; see melə- in Indo-European roots.]

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Examples

  • Gunn, Norman, 1355, very probably has a fracture of the left internal malleolus, but has had no treatment for fifteen days and has not been X-rayed.

    Work Camp 10049 GW 2010

  • In fifteen minutes the ankle experienced complete absence of swelling and the medial malleolus ankle bone previously not seen became visible.

    Manifesting Michelangelo Joseph Pierce Farrell 2011

  • In fifteen minutes the ankle experienced complete absence of swelling and the medial malleolus ankle bone previously not seen became visible.

    Manifesting Michelangelo Joseph Pierce Farrell 2011

  • The microphones did not pick up the fracture of her medial malleolus.

    No Escape: Getting Out Of The Gulag Sammy Perlmutter 2010

  • The malleolus articulates with the talus in the foot, and provides joint stability.

    Spider Bones Kathy Reichs 2010

  • On the cart lay the following: proximal and distal portions of a left femur; a fragment of proximal left fibula; two fragments of left tibia, one proximal, the other distal, including the mangled malleolus; a portion of left pelvis extending from the pubic bone out into the blade; the talus, navicular, and third and second cuneiforms from a left foot.

    Spider Bones Kathy Reichs 2010

  • “Parts of a left leg were also recovered on Tuesday, including a portion of medial malleolus.”

    Spider Bones Kathy Reichs 2010

  • I was rotating the new hunk of leg when I noticed an irregularity centered in the shaft approximately five centimeters above the troublesome malleolus.

    Spider Bones Kathy Reichs 2010

  • Procedure Note: Patient removed right sock to display prominent 1.5cm diameter pustule overlying an erythematous region of approximately 10cm in diameter posterior and inferior to the medial malleolus.

    Archive 2009-09-01 1 Dinosaur 2009

  • Procedure Note: Patient removed right sock to display prominent 1.5cm diameter pustule overlying an erythematous region of approximately 10cm in diameter posterior and inferior to the medial malleolus.

    Op Note 1 Dinosaur 2009

Comments

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  • "'Something of a sprain do I see, sir,' said Macmillan, 'and a considerable tumescence about the external malleolus; but where is the break? Why the splint?'"

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Nutmeg of Consolation, 62

    March 6, 2008

  • "It is a little small piece of the external malleolus, trying to come out."

    "What is the external malleolus?"

    "Nay, if you can oppress me with your dumb-chalders, I can do the same with my malleoli."

    --O'Brian, The Truelove, 99

    March 11, 2008