Skip to main content
PlainSpell

mastoid

/ˈmæ.stɔɪd/adjective, noun

mastoid is spelled M-A-S-T-O-I-D: 7 letters. It appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, mastoid means “Being the process of the temporal bone behind the ear” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in mastoid?

Letters7: M-A-S-T-O-I-D
In writingabout once in every 13 million words; the 106,501st most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone 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 mastoid?

Mastoid appears about once in every 13 million words in written English, the 106,501st 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 mastoid?

  • /ˈmæ.stɔɪd/

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

Forms of mastoid

  • mastoids plural

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

What does mastoid mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    Being the process of the temporal bone behind the ear.

  2. 2

    Being any of several bony elements that occupy a similar position in the skull of lower vertebrates.

  3. 3

    Of or relating to the mastoid process of the temporal bone.

  4. 4

    Shaped like a nipple.

noun

  1. 1

    Ellipsis of mastoid process.

  2. 2

    informalClipping of mastoiditis.

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

Where does mastoid come from?

Borrowed from New Latin mastoīdēs, from Ancient Greek μᾰστοειδής (măstoeidḗs, “like a breast”), from μᾰστός (măstós, “a woman's breast”) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, “-like, -oid”).

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

What to look up after mastoid