Paracervical

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Located beside or surrounding the cervix, the narrow lower part of the uterus, as in certain anesthetic injections or tissues
2. Describing structures or regions that lie next to the neck of the womb, the lower opening of the uterus
3. Relating to the area immediately adjacent to the cervix, the constricted entrance to the uterine body

Etymology: "Paracervical" is a plain technical compound, built from the Greek prefix "para-", meaning "beside" or "alongside", and "cervical", from Latin "cervix", "neck". Together they describe something situated beside the cervix, the neck of the uterus, rather than a feature of the neck of the body. The term is used chiefly in medicine, most often for the paracervical block, an anaesthetic injected near the cervix during childbirth or certain gynaecological procedures. Its meaning is fixed by anatomy rather than by any figurative drift, so the word has changed little from its coinage.