Occipitoparietal

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to both the occipital bone at the back of the skull and the parietal bones on its upper sides
2. Describing an area or structure that involves the back of the head and the parietal regions of the cranium together
3. Of or pertaining to the junction or combined region of the occipital and parietal bones of the skull

Etymology: "Occipitoparietal" is a plain technical compound, built from "occipito-", a combining form of the Latin "occiput" (the back of the head, literally "against the head"), and "parietal," which comes from the Latin "parietalis," relating to walls, and in anatomy to the bones forming the sides and top of the skull. Anatomists joined the two to name the region where the back of the skull meets its upper sides, so the word describes a location rather than a function or a metaphor. The "-o-" in the middle is the linking vowel that anatomical Latin and Greek-based coinages use to join combining forms, which is why the word reads as a single unit. Both parts were used in anatomical description long before this compound appeared, so the word is best understood as a precise descriptive coinage built from existing pieces of medical vocabulary.