Tarsals

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of seven bones in the foot that connect the leg bones to the metatarsals, aiding in locomotion and bearing weight
2. The collection of small bones in the hind part of the foot that provide structural support and mobility to the foot
3. A set of bones located between the ankle and the metatarsals, essential for fine motor control and balance in walking and running

Etymology: "Tarsals" is the plural of "tarsal", and the singular form is the more revealing one. "Tarsus" is a Latinized Greek word that originally referred to the flat, flexible rim of an eyelid, and the same root gave English the adjective "tarsal" in the sense of relating to the tarsus. Anatomists later applied "tarsus" to the cluster of small bones at the back of the foot, and that is the sense in which "tarsals" is used today. The mechanism behind the name is simple. The ankle-region bones were compared to the eyelid's stiff plate, which the Greek-derived term had already described, and the scientific vocabulary of the period borrowed it for them. The word is therefore a case of a body-part name moving from one part of the face-and-leg anatomy to another, not of any ancient reference to the foot. The "-al" ending is the ordinary English adjective suffix, which is why the singular reads as a descriptive term before it becomes a noun for a set of bones.