3QO GLOSSARY 



Atlas. A fabled giant who bore the globe upon his shoulders. The first cervical 



vertebra, upon which the skull rests. 

 Atrium. A hall, a chamber of the heart where blood enters. 

 Atrophy. Wasting. From a Greek word signifying want of nourishment. 

 Auricular. Shaped like, or belonging to, an ear or auricle. 

 Axis. The second cervical vertebra. Named because of the pivot around which the 



atlas revolves (like a wheel around an axis). 

 Axone. An axis. The essential part of a nerve fiber. 



Azygos. Without a yoke. The name of certain vessels which are not in pairs. 

 Biceps. Having two heads, as the biceps femoris; biceps brachii. 

 Bicuspid. Having two points or cusps. A bicuspid tooth. 

 Bone corpuscle. A formative cell of bone tissue. 

 Brachialis. Belonging to the arm, or brachium. 

 Bronchus. An air tube. (Plural, bronchi.) The smallest air tubes are called 



bronchioles. 



Buccinator. From a word meaning trumpet. The blowing or trumpeting muscle. 

 Bursa. Literally, a purse. The bursce are small sacs containing fluid and found in 



the fascia under skin, or muscles, or tendons. 

 Calcaneus. The heel bone. The tendo calcaneus, or tendo Achillis, is attached to 



the calcaneus. 

 Calculus. A stone-like body formed in some fluid of the body. Renal calculus, in 



the kidney; biliary c., in the gall-bladder, etc. 

 Callus. . A thickened portion of the skin. The material thrown out (provisional 



callus) for the repair of fractured bone, to become the permanent callus when 



the bone is completely ossified. 



Cancellous. Resembling lattice work. A cancellous or spongy bone. 

 Canine. Resembling a dog. Canine teeth, like a dog's teeth. 

 Canthus. The angle at the meeting of upper and lower eyelid; plural canthi. 

 Capillary. Resembling a hair in size. (Capillus, a hair.) 

 Capitellum, or capitulum. A little head, an eminence on the lower extremity of the 



humerus. 



Capsule. A structure which encloses an organ or part. (The capsule of a joint.) 

 Carbo-hydrate. A substance composed of carbon and water; sugars and starches. 

 Cardiac. Belonging to the heart or cardia. 

 Caries. Decay of bone. Carious, decaying. 

 Carotid. The name of the large arteries of the neck, once thought to cause sleep. 



From a Greek word meaning to produce sleep. 

 Caruncle. A small soft projecting tumor. Urethral caruncle, a minute tumor of the 



urethral mucous membrane, made up mostly of nerves and vessels. 

 Casein. The proteid or cheesy part of milk. 

 Cast. An albuminous structure moulded in tubular form. 

 Cauda equina. A horse-tail. The name given to the bundle of spinal nerves in the 



lower portion of the spinal canal. 



Cecum. Blind. The blind pouch at beginning of the large intestine. 

 Celiac (cceliac). Pertaining to the celia or belly. 

 Center. In the nerve system, a center is a collection of gray cells. The central 



nerve system comprises the brain and spinal cord, which contain the large nerve 



centers. Central convolutions contain a majority of motor centers. 

 Centrifugal. Referring to a force which is exerted from the center outward; a 



centrifugal nerve conducts impulses from a center. 

 Centripetal. Applied to a force which seeks a center; a centripetal nerve conducts 



impulses to a center. 

 Cerebellum. Little brain. 

 Cerumen. The wax of the ear. (Cera, wax.) 

 Cervix. Neck. Cervical, belonging to or resembling a neck. 

 Choana. A funnel. The choana are the posterior openings from the nose into the 



pharynx. 



Choroid. Like the chorion, which is a fetal membrane bearing blood-vessels. 

 Cicatrix. A scar. It is formed of fibrous connective tissue. 



Cilia. Eyelashes. Ciliated, having tiny hair-like projections, as ciliated epithelium. 

 Ciliary. ^ The ciliary region of the eye presents radiating lines, caused by folds of the 



tissues composing it (ciliary 'processes). 



