Unlabeled Diagram of Outer Ear – Auricle and Canal to Print

All 16 parts on the diagram

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The auricle 12

Helix The rolled outer rim of the auricle.
Antihelix A second curved ridge, inside the helix and parallel to it.
Concha The deep hollow at the auricle's center. It leads into the ear canal.
Tragus A small flap in front of the concha. It points backward over the opening of the ear canal.
Lobule (earlobe) The soft lower end of the auricle. It is the one part with no cartilage inside.
Opening of the ear canal Where the ear canal begins, in the floor of the concha.
Antitragus A small bump opposite the tragus. It sits at the lower end of the antihelix.
Intertragic notch The notch between the tragus and the antitragus.
Crus of the helix The start of the helix. It runs across the concha, just above the ear canal.
Crura of the antihelix The two arms into which the antihelix forks at the top.
Triangular fossa The small hollow between the two crura of the antihelix.
Scapha The narrow curved groove separating helix and antihelix.

The canal, cut 4

Auricular cartilage The plate of elastic cartilage that gives the auricle its shape.
Cartilage part of the canal The outer third of the ear canal. Its wall is cartilage, continuous with that of the auricle.
Bony part of the canal The inner two thirds of the ear canal. Its wall is the temporal bone.
Eardrum (tympanic membrane) A thin sheet across the inner end of the ear canal. The middle ear lies behind it.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-10-01 in at least two of these. (1) Henry Gray, Anatomy of the Human Body (1918), The External Ear, https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/anatomy-of-the-human-body/1d-1-the-external-ear/ (every ridge and hollow of the auricle; the two parts of the canal). (2) Wikipedia, English edition, Auricle (anatomy) and Ear canal, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auricle_(anatomy) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ear_canal. (3) TeachMeAnatomy, The External Ear, https://teachmeanatomy.info/head/organs/ear/external-ear/. (4) Kenhub, Outer ear, https://www.kenhub.com/en/library/anatomy/outer-ear. The Wikipedia list of auricle parts follows Gray closely, so a name counts only when the third or fourth source has it too. Detail lines are in our own words. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-10-01 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

Two drawings and no names. The upper one is a right ear from the side, the face to the right. The lower one cuts through the same ear from top to bottom, with its flap at the left.

Read the full guide

Word bank for an outer ear diagram with no labels

The ear, twelve: helix, crus of the helix, antihelix, crura of the antihelix, triangular fossa, scapha, concha, opening of the ear canal, tragus, intertragic notch, antitragus, lobule. The cut, four: auricular cartilage, cartilage part of the canal, bony part of the canal, eardrum. A class may write external acoustic meatus for the canal and tympanic membrane for the eardrum.

One canal, drawn twice

The solid oval in the hollow of the upper drawing is the mouth of the ear canal. The lower drawing follows that same tube inward, from left to right, as far as the sheet that closes it. So the opening is labeled on the ear, and the two parts of the canal wall on the cut.

The small bone drawn behind the eardrum belongs to the middle ear and takes no line.

Questions and answers

Why does the outer ear have folds?

The folds filter a sound on its way in. They let through more of the high frequencies of a sound that comes from above than of the same sound at ear level, and that difference is a cue to the height of its source.

How long is the ear canal?

About 2.5 cm, or one inch, in an adult, measured from the floor of the concha to the eardrum. It runs in an S-shaped curve, which this drawing leaves out.

Is the eardrum part of the outer ear?

It is the boundary. The outer ear is the auricle and the ear canal, and the canal ends at the eardrum. The skin of the canal carries on over the outer face of the eardrum, and the middle ear begins behind it.