Sphenoides

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An irregular wedge-shaped bone at the base of the skull, set behind the nasal cavity ; having the form of a wedge
2. The bone at the floor of the cranium that wedges between the other skull bones ; resembling a wedge in shape
3. A bat-winged bone located centrally in the base of the skull ; describing something shaped like a wedge

Etymology: Sphenoides is the anatomical name for the sphenoid bone, the wedge-shaped bone at the base of the skull, and its name comes straight from Greek. The Greek "sphēn" meant "wedge," and "-oeidēs" means "wedge-like" or "resembling," so the whole word simply means "wedge-shaped." The Greek adjective "sphēnoeidēs" was used by ancient writers to describe anything with a wedge-like form, and Greek anatomists applied it to this bone. The Latin-based anatomical tradition took the term over with little change, which is why it appears in modern medical texts as "os sphenoidale" (Latin for "wedge-shaped bone") alongside the Greek-derived English form. The English word "sphenoid" entered the language as a technical anatomical term, and the bone's name has stayed largely fixed since the early modern period when anatomy was systematized.

Synonyms: sphenoid