Intermuscular

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to or situated between muscles; describing tissues, injections, or spaces that lie in the area separating adjacent muscles
2. Pertaining to the region or structures located in the gaps between muscles; often used to specify types of injections delivered into these areas or the anatomy involving muscular separations
3. Concerning the spaces or connections found among muscles; used to refer to injections administered in the area between muscles or to anatomical features existing interposed amongst muscular tissue

Etymology: "Intermuscular" is a plain technical formation: the prefix "inter-", meaning "between" or "among" (from Latin "inter," "between"), attached to "muscular," the adjective from "muscle." Together they describe what lies between muscles, and the word is used mainly in anatomy and medicine. The prefix does most of the work here. English has long used "inter-" to build descriptions of spaces between things, as in "interstellar" or "intercostal" (between the ribs), and "intermuscular" follows that same pattern. The "muscle" element comes from Latin "musculus," a diminutive of "mus," meaning "mouse," so the original image was of little mice, a nickname that probably refers to the way a flexing muscle moves under the skin.

Synonyms: between muscles, intramuscular, muscle-related, muscular, myogenous

Antonyms: extramuscular, outside muscles