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deltoid

UK /ˈdɛɫtɔɪd/noun, adjective

deltoid is a noun meaning “The deltoid muscle, a triangular muscle on the human shoulder” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled D-E-L-T-O-I-D, and it appears about once in every 7 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of deltoid is deltoids.

What does deltoid mean?

noun

  1. 1

    The deltoid muscle, a triangular muscle on the human shoulder.

  2. 2

    The deltoid ligament, a triangular ligament on the human ankle.

  3. 3

    A kite (quadrilateral having two pairs of edges of equal length, the edges of each pair touching each other at one end).

  4. 4

    A deltoid curve (hypocycloid with three cusps).

adjective

  1. 1

    In the shape of the uppercase Greek letter delta (Δ); triangular.

  2. 2

    Of a triangular or roughly triangular shape and attached to the stem via the side.

  3. 3

    Of or pertaining to the deltoid muscle.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce deltoid?

  • UK /ˈdɛɫtɔɪd/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-deltoid.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of deltoid

  • deltoids plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is deltoid?

Deltoid appears about once in every 7 million words in written English, the 81,375th 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).

Deltoid in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdeltoïde (triangular muscle on the human shoulder), cerf-volant (kite)
GermanDeltamuskel (triangular muscle on the human shoulder), Drachenviereck (kite)
Spanish(músculo) deltoides, muñón (triangular muscle on the human shoulder), deltoide (kite), deltoides, deltoideo (of or connected with deltoid muscle)

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 deltoid come from?

From Latin deltoideus, which was in turn from Ancient Greek adjective δελτοειδής (deltoeidḗs). See also: δέλτα (délta), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).