malleus - What does it mean?

Noun

A fracture of the malleus handle is a rare traumatic middle ear lesion.

The tympanic cavity is spanned by the three smallest bones in the body: the auditory ossicles These bones, named for their shape, are the malleus' (mal?e-us; "hammer"); the incus (ing?kus; "anvil"); and the stapes (sta?p?z; "stirrup"). The "handle" of the ' malleus is secured to the eardrum, and the base of the stapes fits into the oval window.

[...] in the typical mastax of a Brachionus there are two hammer-like bodies (mallei'), which work on a kind of split anvil (incus); [...] each ' malleus consists of an upper part or head (uncus) and a lower or handle (manubrium);