Brachium

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The part of the arm between the shoulder and the elbow in humans
2. The segment of the upper limb extending from the shoulder joint to the elbow
3. The anatomical region of the arm located between the shoulder and the elbow joint

Etymology: "Brachium" is the anatomical term for the upper arm, the part of the limb running from the shoulder joint down to the elbow. English took it directly from Latin "bracchium," meaning "arm," so the word has kept its ancient sense almost untouched. The Romans used the same term for the whole arm, and the narrowing to the upper segment is a modern anatomical refinement made by physicians who needed a precise name for one bone-and-muscle section. The word's close relative is "braccio," the Italian for "arm," which came into that language from the same Latin source. Because English and Italian each borrowed the Latin word separately rather than passing it along one from the other, the two are called doublets, twin forms of one root that took different paths into different languages. Italian kept the word in everyday speech, while English reserved its version for the vocabulary of anatomy and medicine.