Meatus

In anatomy, a meatus (/miːˈeɪtəs/, mee-AY-təs),^[1] plural "meatus" or "meatuses",^[2] is a natural body opening or canal.

Meatus may refer to:

• the external acoustic meatus, the opening of the ear canal
• The internal auditory meatus, a canal in the temporal bone of the skull
• the urinary meatus, which is the opening of the urethra, situated on the glans penis in males, and in the vulva in females
• one of the nasal meatuses - the superior meatus, middle meatus and inferior meatus; each are passages through the nasal cavity within the skull

(The plural forms of "meatus" are: meatus, as a Latin form (of the fourth declension noun class, which the word belongs to); or meatuses, as a normally derived English plural; or often, and incorrectly, meati, by false analogy with the very common Latin -us/-i forms (such as alumnus/alumni), i.e., the second declension noun class.)

See also

• Meatal stenosis
• Fossa (anatomy)
• Foramen

References