patella

1. 1.

   a small flat triangular bone in front of the knee that protects the knee joint

   Synonymskneecapkneepan

   Broadersesamoid bone

   Part ofknee
2. 2.

   type genus of the family Patellidae: common European limpets

   Synonymsgenus Patella

   Broadermollusk genus

   Part ofPatellidae

Other forms of patella

plural

patellae

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about patella

What does patella mean?

patella means "a small flat triangular bone in front of the knee that protects the knee joint". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in patella?

patella has 3 syllables: pa-tel-la. The stress falls on "tel". In IPA it is /pəˈtɛlə/.

What is another word for patella?

Close synonyms include kneecap, kneepan, genus Patella. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is patella a common word?

patella is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.