Plural of maxilla
irregular plural
The plural of maxilla is maxillae or maxillas.
Forms of maxilla
| Singular | maxilla /mækˈsɪl.ə/ |
|---|---|
| Plural | maxillae maxillas |
| Countable | countable |
Maxillae and maxillas in a sentence
- In squalodonts, the maxillae extend posteriorly over the parietals to reach the exoccipitals in adult specimens.2002, A. Rus Hoelzel, Marine Mammal Biology. From the entry squalodont
- This study has also shown that the fifth limb is most probably of thoracic origin and hence ostracods have only one pair of maxillae.2000, Robin J. Smith, Koen Martens, “The ontology of the cypridid ostracod Eucypris virens (Jurine, 1820) (Crustacea, Ostracoda)”, in…. From the entry ostracod
Meaning of maxilla
- noun An upper jaw especially of humans and other mammals in which the bony elements are closely fused.
- noun Either of the two bones that lie with one on each side of the upper jaw lateral to the premaxilla and that in higher vertebrates bear most of the teeth.
- noun One of the first or second pair of mouthparts posterior to the mandibles in many arthropods that are used for tasting and manipulating food.
Nouns ending in -a: plural -ae
Questions about the plural of maxilla
- What is the plural of maxilla?
- The plural of maxilla is maxillae or maxillas.
- Which is correct, maxillae or maxillas?
- Both are used. maxillae is the more common of the two in English writing.
- Is maxilla countable?
- Maxilla is a countable noun.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: maxilla (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Plural of maxilla.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/plural/maxilla. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.