semicircular canal

noun

: any of three loop-shaped tubular parts of the inner ear that are filled with a watery fluid, are positioned at nearly right angles to each other, and play a role in the maintenance of balance and stabilization by detecting rotations or angular movements of the head

Note: Rotational and angular movements of the head cause the watery fluid in one or more of the semicircular canals to shift so that hair cells at the base of the canals bend and generate electrical signals which are transmitted to the brain by a branch of the auditory nerve.

see ear illustration

Examples of semicircular canal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Two inner ear structures called otolith sensors detect both head motion and the pull of gravity, while three structures called semicircular canals specialize in sensing quick head rotations, driving a reflex that keeps our eyes and vision steady and clear. —Sushma Subramanian, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 July 2025

Rearranging a Genetic Timeline According to the study, the results show that classic Neanderthals had a lower morphological diversity of the semicircular canals than pre-Neanderthals. —Discover Magazine, 21 Feb. 2025

The vestibular system, in particular, is a series of semicircular canals located in your inner ear, Besser says. —Caroline C. Boyle, USA TODAY, 19 Sep. 2024

These include an abnormal shape of the lateral semicircular canal (the shortest ear canal); an enlarged vestibular aqueduct, a narrow, bony canal that goes from the inner ear to deep inside the skull, and a reduction of the overall size of the cochlea bone chamber. —Katie Hunt, CNN, 27 June 2024

The loops inside the inner ear, called semicircular canals, can sense these movements using fluid and hair cells. —Discover Magazine, 29 Jan. 2024

If the cochlea were a snail’s shell, the vestibular organs—the saccule, the utricle, and three semicircular canals—would make up the snail’s body. —Shayla Love, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2023

Medical anatomists studied semicircular canals in the sixteenth century by cutting open cadavers and drawing their insides, but doctors didn’t gain a deeper understanding of the vestibular system until the nineteenth century. —Shayla Love, The New Yorker, 10 Oct. 2023

Mongolian gerbils who receive semicircular canal fenestration in their left inner ears offer a successful animal model for superior semicircular canal dehiscence. —Matthew Gavin Frank, Harper's Magazine, 10 Apr. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

1694, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for semicircular canal

• bal
• dal
• gal
• mal
• pal
• sal
• shall
• chaparral
• ileal
• musicale
• perceval
• rationale

Kids Definition

semicircular canal

noun

: any of the loop-shaped tubes in the ear that contain fluid and tiny hairs and help to maintain the body's sense of balance

Medical Definition

semicircular canal

noun

semi·​cir·​cu·​lar canal -ˌsər-kyə-lər- 

: any of the loop-shaped tubular parts of the labyrinth of the ear that together constitute a sensory organ associated with the maintenance of bodily equilibrium, that consist of an inner membranous canal of the membranous labyrinth and a corresponding outer bony canal of the bony labyrinth, and that in all vertebrates above cyclostomes form a group of three in each ear usually in planes nearly at right angles to each other see semicircular duct