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Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position provides a definition of what is at the front ("anterior"), behind ("posterior") and so on.
Most of the principal terms can be combined using their corresponding combining forms (such as mesio-for mesial and disto-for distal). They provide names for directions (vectors) and axes; for example, the coronoapical axis is the long axis of a tooth. Such combining yields terms such as those in the following list.
Common geometric terms of location are: Radial (solid and colored lines) and circumferential roads (dashed and gray lines) in Metro Manila's road network. Axial – along the center of a round body, or the axis of rotation of a body; Radial – along a direction pointing along a radius from the center of an object, or perpendicular to a curved ...
These terms come from the Latin words with the same meaning. [a] Flexion is a bending movement that decreases the angle between a segment and its proximal segment. [9] For example, bending the elbow, or clenching a hand into a fist, are examples of flexion. When a person is sitting down, the knees are flexed.
Examples: The thumb is on the radial side of the hand (the same as saying the lateral side); the ulnar side of the wrist is the side toward the little finger (medial side). Ventral and dorsal , which describe structures derived from the front (ventral) and back (dorsal) of the embryo , before limb rotation.
Some of these terms come from Latin. Sagittal means "like an arrow", a reference to the position of the spine that naturally divides the body into right and left equal halves, the exact meaning of the term "midsagittal", or to the shape of the sagittal suture, which defines the sagittal plane and is shaped like an arrow.
The standard anatomical position, or standard anatomical model, is the scientifically agreed upon reference position for anatomical location terms.Standard anatomical positions are used to standardise the position of appendages of animals with respect to the main body of the organism.
For some uses, where it is necessary to avoid confusion from differences in viewpoint, separate terminology is used to describe the sides of things. For example, proper right and proper left are conceptual terms used to unambiguously convey relative direction when describing an image or other object. The "proper right" hand of a figure is the ...