Copy of `University of Sydney - Anatomy glossary`

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University of Sydney - Anatomy glossary Category: Sciences > Anatomy glossary Date & country: 25/01/2011, AU Words: 1008

phalanx
Latin = row of soldiers; hence, one of the small bones of a digit, plural - phalanges, adjective - phalangeal.

phallus
Greek phallos = penis.

pharynx
Greek = throat; adjective - pharyngeal.

philtrum
Greek philtron - the median sulcus of the upper lip. Derivation doubtful.

phonation
Greek phone = sound or voice; hence, the production of either.

phrenic
Greek phren = diaphragm or mind; hence, diaphragmatic (cf. schizophrenic).

pia
Latin = faithful, hence, the membrane which faithfully follows the contour of the brain and spinal cord.

pilomotor
Latin pilus = a hair, and movere = to move; hence the action of the arrectores pilorum muscles.

pilus
Latin = a hair.

pineal
adjective, Latin pinea = a pine cone; hence, the pineal gland which is cone-shaped.

piriform
adjective, Latin pirum = a pear; hence, pear-shaped.

pisiform
adjective, Latin pisum = a pea; hence, pea-shaped.

pituitary
Latin pituita = mucous or phlegm, the gland was thought to produce mucous that discharged through the nose.

placenta
Latin = a flat, round cake.

placode
Greek plax = plate or flat, and eidos = shape or form.

plane
Latin planus = flat; hence, a real or imaginary flat surface.

planta
Latin the sole of the foot; adjective - plantar or plantaris.

plantar
adjective, Latin planta = the sole of the foot.

platysma
Greek = flat object; hence, the flat subcutaneous muscle extending from below the clavicle to the mouth.

pleura
Greek = a rib. Later used to name the serous membrane lining the chest walls and the lung on each side.

plexus
Latin = a network or plait.

plica
Latin plicare = to fold; hence, a fold.

pneumon
Greek pneuma = air.

pollex
Latin = thumb.

pollicis
genitive (possessive case) of Latin pollex = thumb; hence of the thumb.

pons
Latin = bridge; adjective - pontine; part of the brain stem.

popliteus
Latin poples = the ham or thigh, and sometimes, the knee; adjective, popliteal, referring to the fossa behind the knee or its contents.

porta
Latin = a gate, also Latin portare = to carry; hence, the portal system carries venous blood from the alimentary tract to the porta hepatis; adjective - portal.

porus
Latin a pore or foramen; hence, the openings of the acoustic meatuses.

posterior
adjective, Latin post = behind (in place or time).

posture
Latin positus = placed; hence, the position of the body as a whole at a given moment, e.g. erect, recumbent, prone, supine, sitting, kneeling.

precuneus
Latin pre = before, and cuneus = wedge; hence, the parietal lobule anterior to the cuneus.

prepuce
Latin praeputium = foreskin (of penis or clitoris).

princeps
Latin primus = chief, and capere = to take; hence chief or principal.

procerus
Latin = slender, elongated; hence, the vertical slip of muscle between the medial part of frontalis and the root of the nose.

process
Latin = going forwards, used to indicate growing out, i.e., an outgrowth, usually of bone, e.g., the zygomatic process of the temporal.

processus
Latin going forwards, used to indicate growing out, i.e., an outgrowth, usually of bone, e.g., the zygomatic process of the temporal.

profundus
Latin pro = before, and fundus = bottom; hence profundus = deep.

prominens
Latin = projecting.

promontory
Latin promontorium = a headland, i.e., part of land jutting into the sea - used for a bony prominence.

pronate
Latin pronatus = bent forwards; hence to pronate = to turn the hand so that the palm faces posteriorly.

prone
Latin pronatus = bent forwards; hence, recumbent face-down posture.

proprioceptive
Latin proprius = one's own, and captum = taken; hence, sensory impulses received by the joints and muscles within one's own body.

prosection
Latin pro = before, and sectum = cut. A dissection prepared for demonstration of anatomic structures.

prosector
Latin pro = before, and sectum = cut. One who prepares a dissection for demonstration.

prosencephalon
Latin pro = in front, and Greek enkephalos = brain; hence, the part of the brain rostral to the midbrain.

prostate
Greek pro = before, and Latin = statum = stood; hence, something which stands before - the prostate stands before the urinary bladder.

protract
Latin protractus = drawn out; hence, to put forwards (e.g., shoulder or mandible). Protraction - the act of protracting.

protrude
Latin protrudo = thrust forwards, e.g. the tongue; protrusion - the act of protruding.

protuberance
Latin protubero = I bulge out; hence, a bulging bony feature (see tuber).

proximal
adjective, Latin proxime = nearest; hence, nearer to the root of a limb.

psoas
Greek = loin.

pterion
Greek pteron = wing; hence, the region where the tip of the greater wing of the sphenoid meets or is close to the parietal, separating the frontal from the squamous temporal; alternatively the region where these 4 bones meet.

pterygoid
adjective, Greek pteryx = wing, and eidos = shape; hence, wing-shaped.

ptosis
Greek = fall; hence, drooping of an eyelid, or descent of an internal organ.

puberty
Latin puber = adult; hence, the time when hair appears in the pubic region - i.e., near the pubis - as a secondary sexual characteristic.

pubes
Latin = adult or signs of manhood, hence the lower abdominal secondary sexual hair.

pudendal
adjective, Latin pudendus = shameful; hence, pertaining to the external genitalia.

pulmonary
adjective, Latin pulmo = lung.

pulp
Latin pulpa = a soft part of the body or tooth.

pulposus
Latin pulpa = a soft part of the body or tooth, hence pulpy or soft.

pulvinar
Latin pulvinus = rounded cushion; the posterior end of the thalamus.

punctum
Latin = a sharp point; hence a very small point or orifice.

pupil
Latin pupilla = the central black orifice in the iris; adjective - pupillary.

putamen
Latin = peel, husk or shell of fruit or seed (the external part of the lentiform nucleus).

pyelogram
Greek pyelos = basin, and gramma = diagram; hence, radiograph of the renal pelvis (and usually of the ureter) after filling with contrast medium.

pylorus
Greek = gate-keeper; hence, the part of the pyloric canal containing the sphincter, which guards the opening into the duodenum; adjective - pyloric.

pyramid
Greek pyramis = a pyramid (solid with 3- or more-sided base, and flat sides meeting at the apex), adjective - pyramidal.

quadrangular
Latin quadri = four and angulus = angle; hence square or rectangular.

quadratus
Latin = square or rectangular.

quadriceps
Latin quadri = four, and caput = head; hence, a 4-headed muscle.

quadrigeminus
Latin quadri = four, and gemini = paired or twinned; hence four-fold.

radiation
Latin radiatus = radiant; hence, divergence from a common centre (cf. radius).

radicle
diminutive of Latin radix = root; hence a small root, adjective - radicular.

radius
Latin = spoke of a wheel, which rotates around the hub; hence, the lateral bone of the forearm, which rotates (though around an almost vertical axis); adjective - radial.

radix
Latin = root.

ramify
Latin ramus = a branch; and facere = to make; hence, to branch.

ramus
Latin = branch; hence, a branch of a nerve.

raphe
Greek a seam; hence, the line of junction of the edges of 2 muscles or areas of skin.

recess
Latin recessus = a secluded area or pocket; hence, a small cavity set apart from a main cavity.

rectum
adjective, Latin rectus = straight. (The rectum was named in animals where it is straight - which it is not in Man).

rectus
Latin rectus = straight.

recurrent
Latin re = back, and currere = to run; hence a structure that bends, and runs back toward its source.

reflex
an involuntary response - muscular or secretory - to a stimulus mediated by the central nervous system.

renal
adjective, Latin ren = kidney.

rete
Latin = a net; hence, a network of veins or tubules.

reticular
adjective, Latin reticulum = small net; hence having a network.

reticulum
diminutive of Latin rete = net; adjective - reticular.

retina
derivation uncertain - the innermost of the 3 layers of the eyeball.

retinaculum
Latin = a tether; hence, a thickened band of deep fascia which retains tendons or the patella.

retract
Latin re = back, and tractum = pulled; hence, to pull something back, and retraction - the act of retracting.

retro
prefix - Latin = backwards.

retroflexion
Latin retro = backwards, and flexion = bent; hence, the position of being bent backwards, applied to the angulation of the body of the uterus on the cervix.

retroversion
Latin retro = backwards, and version = turned; hence, the position of being turned backwards, applied to the angulation of the cervix uteri on the vagina.

rhinencephalon
Greek rhinion = nostril, and enkephalos = brain; hence, the part of the brain concerned with smell (relatively large in lower animals).

rhombencephalon
Greek rhombos = rhomboid, and enkephalos = brain; hence, the hind-brain - the medulla oblongata, pons and cerebellum, which enclose the rhomboid fossa (the floor of the 4th ventricle).

rhomboid
Greek rhombus = a figure with 4 equal sides, not at right angles, and eidos = shape or form, hence, the shape of a rhombus.

rima
Latin = chink; hence, e.g., rima palpebrarum = the chink between the free edges of the eyelids.

risorius
Latin risor = scoffer; hence, muscle risorius is the facial muscle which expresses laughter by drawing the corner of the mouth laterally.

rostral
adjective, Latin rostrum = beak, implying nearness to the corpus callosum.