Veterinary Gross Anatomy

TERMINOLOGY

• The surface of the bones presents a number of features in the form of prominences, depressions, perforations etc. These may be articular (forming joints with corresponding articular areas of another bone) or non-articular furnishing attachment to muscles, tendons and ligaments.

Some of the terms used to designate the features of bones are as below

Bone feature	Definition
Process	A general term for prominence.
Tubercle	A small blunt projection which, if more developed is called a tuberosity while a trochanter is the largest of these.
Spine	A pointed proection.
Crest	A sharp ridge.
Head	A rounded articular enlargement at the end of a bone; it may be joined to the shaft by the neck.
Condyle	A somewhat cylindrical articular eminence while an epicondyle is the non-articular projection in connection with it.
Protuberance, prominence, eminence, torus	A varieties of bony projections.
Trochlea	A pulley -lie articular area.
Glenoid cavity	A shallow cup-like articular depression
Cotyloid cavity	A deep cup like articular depression.
Line	A faint elongated elevation whereas a crest is an elongated elevation.
Facet	A flat articular surface.
Foramen	A perforation for the transmission of vessels, nerves etc.
Sinus	An air cavity within the bone lined by mucous membrane and communicates with the exterior.
Hiatus	A depression leading to two or more foramina. The terms fossa, fovea and sulcus denote various forms of depressions.
Cleft	A fissure in a bone.
Lamina	A thin plate of a bone.
Cornu or hamulus	A curved horn like process.
Canal	A bony tunnel (foramen of some length).
Meatus	A narrow passage.
Articular process	A projection that contacts an adjacent bone.
Articulation	The region where adjacent bones contact each other—a joint.
Canal	A long, tunnel-like foramen, usually a passage for notable nerves or blood vessels.
Eminence	A relatively small projection or bump.
Suture	Articulation between cranial bones.
Labyrinth	A cavity within a bone.
Malleolus	One of two specific protuberances of bones in the ankle.
Mamus	An arm-like branch off the body of a bone.
Angle	Corner of bone found between two borders
Articulation	A joint or union between two bones
Body (corpus)	The largest/pricipal part of a bone
Border	The edge of bone usually applied to flat bone
Condyloid cavity/Acetabulum	A deeper articular depression
Epicondyle	A non-articular projection in connection with or adjacent to condyle
Fissure	A narrow cleft in a bone
Fontanel	Unossified region between skull bone
Fossa	A concavity or depression, literally a ditch
Fovea	An articular surface in the form of a very small pit/depression
Groove	An elongated concavity between parallel ridges.
Incisura	A notch like depression
Linea	Narrow crest/ridge/line i.e. A very small line
Manubrium	A flat handle like projection
Notch	A deep or large indentation usually for articulation
Plexuses	It is a network or tangle of nerves.
Ridge	A narrow rounded elevation on the surface
Squama	The flat portion of the cranial bone
Styloid	Literally a pencil shaped pointed process
Symphysis	A union in which two similar bones are firmly connected by cartilage
Trochanter	A very large non-articular prominence.
Tuberosity	A large rounded uneven projection

Several terms are used to refer to specific features of long bones

Bone feature	Definition
Diaphysis	The long, relatively straight main body of a long bone; region of primary ossification. Also known as the shaft.
Epiphysis	The end regions of a long bone; regions of secondary ossification
Epiphyseal plate	Also known as the growth plate or physis. In a long bone it is a thin disc of hyaline cartilage that is positioned transversely between the epiphysis and metaphysis. In the long bones of humans, the epiphyseal plate disappears by twenty years of age.
Head	The proximal articular end of the bone.
metaphysis	The region of a long bone lying between the epiphysis and diaphysis.
Neck	The region of bone between the head and the shaft.