tympan

From Medieval Latin tympanum.

tympan (plural tympans)

1. (printing) A piece of cloth padding placed under the platen of a letterpress to distribute the pressure on the sheet being printed.
2. (music) The stretched membrane of a drum.
3. (music) A percussion instrument consisting of a hollow cylinder with such a membrane at each end.
4. (architecture) A tympanum.

Borrowed from Latin tympanum. Doublet of timbre, which was inherited.

• IPA^(key): /tɛ̃.pɑ̃/

tympan m (plural tympans)

1. (anatomy) eardrum
2. (anatomy) middle ear
3. (architecture) tympanum
4. (historical) treadwheel, treadmill
5. (by extension) hydraulic wheel
6. (dated or literary, music) various percussion instruments, such as gongs, tympans, tambourines, etc.
7. (printing) tympan

• tympanique

• “tympan” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).