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Anatomical terminology is a specialized system of terms used by anatomists, zoologists, and health professionals, such as doctors, surgeons, and pharmacists, to describe the structures and functions of the body. This terminology incorporates a range of unique terms, prefixes, and suffixes derived primarily from Ancient Greek and Latin.
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. As part of defining and describing terms, the body is described through the use of anatomical planes and anatomical axes.
These terms come from Latin words with similar meanings, ab-being the Latin prefix indicating ' away ', ad-indicating ' toward ', and ducere meaning ' to draw or pull '. [ b ] Abduction is a motion that pulls a structure or part away from the midline of the body, carried out by one or more abductor muscles.
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.
Older set of terminology shown in Parts of the Human Body: Posterior and Anterior View from the 1933 edition of Sir Henry Morris' Human Anatomy. Many of these terms are medical latin terms that have fallen into disuse. Front: Frons - forehead; Facies - face; Pectus - breast; Latus - flank; Coxa - hip; Genu - knee; Pes - foot; Back: Vertex ...
"Caudal" means "towards the tail (Latin cauda"), but not "towards the back of the cranial cavity", which is "posterior" (behind, in ordinary motion). The rostro-caudal axis of the human central nervous system (magenta in the diagram) makes a near 90° bend at the level of the midbrain and continues through the brain-stem and spinal cord.
The human body consists of many interacting systems of organs. These interact to maintain homeostasis, keeping the body in a stable state with safe levels of substances such as sugar and oxygen in the blood. [58] Each system contributes to homeostasis, of itself, other systems, and the entire body. Some combined systems are referred to by joint ...
Each "direction symbol" indicates the orientation of a line between the proximal and distal points of a body part or a limb. [7] That is, "the direction signs indicate the direction towards which the limbs must incline". [8] The direction symbols are organized as three levels: high, middle, and low (or deep):