Word.ws English Dictionary

tarsus

/ˈtɑː.səs/US/ˈtɑɹ.səs/

tarsus noun: a group of small bones in this part of the foot. The seven bones of the human tarsus form the ankle and upper part of the foot.

Noun

tarsus (plural tarsi)

  1. A group of small bones in this part of the foot. The seven bones of the human tarsus form the ankle and upper part of the foot.
  2. The shank or tarsometatarsus of the leg of a bird or reptile.
    • On the ledge, the guillemots shuffle awkwardly about on their tarsi, the long bone connecting the ‘ankle’ to the feet.2020, Tim Ecott, The Land of Maybe, Short Books, published 2021, page 99
  3. The true foot or the fifth joint of the leg of an insect or other arthropod, typically consisting of several small segments and ending in a claw.
  4. A plate of dense connective tissue found in each eyelid, attached to either the superior tarsal muscle (in the upper eyelid) or inferior tarsal muscle (lower eyelid), which aid with sympathetic control.

Proper noun capitalized: Tarsus

Tarsus

  1. A city in Mersin Province in southeastern Turkey, an important center of Cilicia since antiquity.
    Synonyms:
    Tarsa, Tarsos, Antioch, Antioch on the Cydnus, Juliopolis

tarsus meaning in Tamil and Arabic

tarsus in Tamil

கணுக்கால் எலும்பு, அடிக்கால் எலும்பு, இமைத்தகடு, இமைத்தசை, கணைக்காற்றட்டு, கணுக்காற்றட்டு

tarsus in Arabic

the part of the foot between the main part of the hindlimb and the metatarsus
رُصُغ ruṣuḡ

Synonyms of tarsus

  • Tarsa
  • Tarsos
  • Antioch
  • Antioch on the Cydnus
  • Juliopolis

Forms of tarsus

pluraltarsi

Plural of tarsus: tarsi

Origin of tarsus

Borrowed from New Latin tarsus.

From Latin Tarsus, from Ancient Greek Ταρσός (Tarsós), ultimately from Hittite Tarsa.

Words formed from tarsus

Words that rhyme with tarsus

Questions about tarsus

What does tarsus mean?
Tarsus means a group of small bones in this part of the foot. The seven bones of the human tarsus form the ankle and upper part of the foot.
What is tarsus in Tamil?
Tarsus in Tamil is கணுக்கால் எலும்பு, அடிக்கால் எலும்பு, இமைத்தகடு. See Tarsus meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is tarsus?
Tarsus can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce tarsus?
Tarsus is pronounced /ˈtɑː.səs/ (UK).
What is the plural of tarsus?
The plural of tarsus is tarsi.

Words near tarsus in the dictionary

  1. tarsotibial
  2. tarsotomies
  3. tarsotomy
  4. tarsungula
  5. tarsungulum
  6. tarsus
  7. tarsused
  8. tart
  9. tart burner
  10. tart burners
  11. tart card

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tarsus (page history and authors); Tarsus (page history and authors); tarsus (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tarsus.wav.

Cite this entry: “tarsus.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tarsus. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.