Amphiarthroses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Joints between bones that allow only slight movement, held together by fibrocartilage, such as those between the vertebrae of the spine
2. Immovable-ish skeletal connections where bones are linked by cartilage and permit just a little give rather than free motion
3. Cartilaginous joints of the body that restrict bones to limited, minimal movement, like the pubic symphysis and spinal discs

Etymology: "Amphiarthroses" is the plural of "amphiarthrosis", a term for a joint that allows only slight movement, such as the pubic symphysis or the joints between vertebrae. The singular is built from two Greek parts: "amphi", meaning "on both sides" or "around", from "amphís", and "arthrosis", meaning "jointing" or "articulation", from "arthron", "joint". Together they describe a joint that is movable in two directions but only a little, sitting between the fixed joints of the skull and the freely swinging joints of the limbs. The pattern is deliberate. Anatomists of the 18th and 19th centuries sorted joints by how much they move, using Greek compounds: "synarthrosis" for immovable joints, "diarthrosis" for fully mobile ones, and this intermediate category between them. The Greek words were not in use for these ideas in antiquity; they were assembled from classical parts to name a classification that modern anatomy had created.

Antonyms: diarthrosis