Arnold's Glossary of Anatomy

by Dr. M. A. (Toby) Arnold

Modifications & Additions by Deborah Bryce
This anatomical word search engine is dedicated to the memory of Maurice (Toby) Arnold

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V X Z

fabella: diminutive of Latin faba = a bean, hence, a sesamoid bone found in the lateral head of gastrocnemius.
facet: Latin facies = face, hence a small smooth bony surface, either coated with articular cartilage or the site of a tendinous attachment (cf. a facet on a diamond).
facilitate: Latin facilis = easy, hence, to make easy.
falciform: adjective, Latin falx = a sickle, and forma = form, hence, shaped like a sickle.
falx: Latin = sickle, hence, the sickle-shaped falx cerebri and falx cerebelli, adjective - falciform.
fascia: Latin = band or bandage, hence the fibrous wrapping of muscles - deep fascia, or the subcutaneous layer of fatty connective tissue - superficial fascia, adjective, fascial.
fasciculus: diminutive of Latin fascis = bundle, hence, a bundle of nerve or muscle fibres.
fastigius: Latin fastigium = summit, hence the peak of the 4th ventricle, adjective - fastigial.
fauces: Latin = throat, adjective - faucial.
femur: Latin = thigh, adjective - femoral.
fenestra: Latin = window.
fetus: the developing mammal in utero; in Man, after the 2nd month in utero, adjective - foetal or fetal.
fibre: Latin fibra = a fibre, adjective, Latin fibrosus = fibrous.
fibril: diminutive of Latin fibra = a fibre.
fibula: Latin = brooch, which the tibia and fibula resemble, the fibula representing the movable pin, adjective - fibular.
filament: Latin filamentum = a delicate fibre, adjective - filamentous.
filum: Latin = a thread. Filum terminale - a thread of pia continuous with the lower end of the spinal cord.
fimbria: Latin = a fringe, hence, fimbria hippocampi, a scalloped band of fibres alongside the hippocampus.
fissure: Latin = a cleft.
fixator: Latin fixus = fixed, hence, a muscle which fixes a part.
flaccid: adjective, Latin flaccidus = weak or slack.
flavum: adjective, Latin flavus = yellow.
flex: Latin flexum = bent, hence, flexor, a muscle which bends a part of the body, and flexion = the act of flexing.
flexure: Latin flexura = a bending.
flocculus: diminutive of Latin floccus, a tuft. Hence resembling a picture of a little cloud, with a woolly top and a flat base, as in flocculus cerebelli.
foetus: the developing mammal in utero; in Man, after the 2nd month in utero, adjective - foetal or fetal.
folia: plural of Latin folium = leaf.
follicle: Latin folliculus = a little bag, adjective - follicular.
fontanelle: French diminutive of Latin fons = fountain, associated with the palpable pulsation of the brain in the anterior fontanelle of an infant.
foramen: Latin = hole.
forceps: Latin = tongs.
forearm: the upper limb between the elbow and the wrist.
fornix: Latin = arch (hence fornication, because the Roman prostitutes plied their profession beneath the arches of the bridges over the river Tiber).
fossa: Latin = a ditch or trench, hence a concavity in bone, or an organ, or on a lining surface.
fovea: Latin = a pit (usually smaller than a fossa).
foveola: diminutive of fovea.
frenulum: diminutive of frenum.
frenum: Latin = bridle or curb.
frontal: adjective, Latin frontis = of the forehead, or coronal.
fundiform: adjective, Latin fundus = bottom or base (cf. fundamental), hence, sling-shaped.
fundus: Latin = bottom or base. (But note that the fundus of the stomach and uterus are at the top, and the fundus of the eye and of the bladder are posterior!).
funiculus: diminutive of Latin funis = cord (used usually for bundles of nerve fibres).
fusiform: adjective, Latin fusus = spindle, hence, spindle-shaped.