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Webster 1913 Edition

Sternum

Ster′num

,
Noun.
;
pl. L.
Sterna
(#)
, E.
Sternums
(#)
.
[NL., from Gr. [GREEK], the breast, chest.]
1.
(Anat.)
A plate of cartilage, or a series of bony or cartilaginous plates or segments, in the median line of the pectoral skeleton of most vertebrates above fishes; the breastbone.
☞ The sternum is connected with the ribs or the pectorial girdle, or with both. In man it is a flat bone, broad anteriorly, narrowed behind, and connected with the clavicles and the cartilages of the seven anterior pairs of ribs. In most birds it has a high median keel for the attachment of the muscles of the wings.
2.
(Zool.)
The ventral part of any one of the somites of an arthropod.

Webster 1828 Edition

Sternum

STERNUM

,
Noun.
[Gr., from fixing, setting. See Starch, Stark.] The breast bone; the bone which forms the front of the human chest from the neck to the stomach.

Definition 2024

sternum

sternum

English

Noun

sternum ‎(plural sterna or sternums)

  1. The breastbone.

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Translations

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Anagrams

French

Noun

sternum m ‎(plural sternums)

  1. sternum, breastbone

Etymology

1660, from Neo-Latin sternum, from Ancient Greek στέρνον ‎(stérnon, “chest, breastbone, heart”), from Proto-Indo-European *stern- ‎(“forehead, chest, side”). Related to Old English steorn ‎(“forehead”), German Stirn ‎(“forehead”).

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