acetabulum
/ˌæs.əˈtæb.jəl.əm/noun
acetabulum is spelled A-C-E-T-A-B-U-L-U-M: 10 letters and 5 syllables. It appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 122,704th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, acetabulum means “The bony cup of the hip bone which receives the head of the femur” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of acetabulum is acetabulums or acetabula.
How many letters and syllables are in acetabulum?
| Letters | 10: A-C-E-T-A-B-U-L-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 5 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 17 million words; the 122,704th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is acetabulum?
Acetabulum appears about once in every 17 million words in written English, the 122,704th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce acetabulum?
- UK /ˌæs.ɪˈtæb.jʊl.əm/
- US /ˌæs.əˈtæb.jəl.əm/
Acetabulum has 5 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-acetabulum.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of acetabulum
- acetabulums plural
- acetabula plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does acetabulum mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The bony cup of the hip bone which receives the head of the femur.
Holonyms: hip joint; hip bone < pelvis
- 2
The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted at its articulation with the body.
- 3
A sucker of the sepia or cuttlefish and related animals.
- 4
The large posterior sucker of the leeches.
- 5
One of the lobes of the placenta in ruminating animals.
- 6
A vinegar saucer, especially (historical) in ancient Roman contexts.
- 7
A Roman unit of liquid measure reckoned as the volume of 2½ Roman ounces of wine and equivalent to about 66 mL although differing slightly over time.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Acetabulum in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense bony cup of the pelvis:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does acetabulum come from?
Learned borrowing from Latin acētābulum (“vinegar saucer, 1/48 congius”), from acētum (“vinegar”) + -bulum (“-bule: a vessel for”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).