In anatomy, a meatus /miːˈeɪtəs/ is a natural body opening or canal.
Examples include:
- the external acoustic meatus, the opening of the ear canal
- The internal auditory meatus, a canal in the temporal bone of the skull
- the urinary meatus, which is the opening of the urethra, situated on the glans penis in males, and in the vulva in females
- the superior meatus, middle meatus and inferior meatus of the nose
(The plural forms of "meatus" are: meatus, as a Latin form (of the fourth declension noun class, which the word belongs to); or meatuses, as a normally derived English plural; or often, and incorrectly, meati, by false analogy with the very common Latin -us/-i forms (such as alumnus/alumni), i.e., the second declension noun class.)