Definition of "saccule" [sac•cule]

• A small sac. (noun)
• The smaller of two membranous sacs in the vestibule of the inner ear. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The tube that in land vertebrates developed from the saccule is the cochlea (kok'lee-uh; "snail-shell" L), which is a spiral structure that does indeed have a close resemblance to a snail shell, except that its width does not narrow as it approaches its central apex, but remains constant (see illustration, p. 253)."
• "—The saccule is the smaller of the two vestibular sacs; it is globular in form, and lies in the recessus sphæricus near the opening of the scala vestibuli of the cochlea."
• "The saccule is a bed of sensory cells situated in the inner ear."