tympanum.

1. The enclosed space within a pediment, or between the top of a doorway and the arch above it, often decorated with sculpture.

2. A sound-receiving membrane, especially the eardrum.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• carved tympanum
• doorway tympanum
• sculpture in the tympanum

On the page

A carved tympanum showed figures gathered around a throne.

The doorway’s tympanum was blank where the sculpture had been removed.

Rain had softened the faces in the tympanum above the church portal.

Usage notes

Primary category: architecture. Forms: Singular tympanum; plural tympana; tympanums is also used. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.