vertebra

See also: vértebra, vertebrá, and vèrtebra

English

Vertebra

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin vertebra (“a joint”), from vertō (“to turn”) +‎ -bra (instrumental nominal suffix). Having multiple vertebrae (plural of vertebra) in one's backbone instead of having a single bone or solid spine, allows for the movement of the body with bends and turns. Hence meaning 1.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜː.tɪb.ɹə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝ.təb.ɹə/, /ˈvɝ.təˌbɹeɪ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tɪbɹə

Noun

vertebra (plural vertebrae or (obsolete) vertebræ or vertebras)

2. (anatomy) Any of the bony or cartilaginous segments which make up the backbone, consisting in some lower vertebrates of several distinct elements which never become united, and in higher vertebrates having a short more or less cylindrical body whose ends articulate by pads of elastic or cartilaginous tissue with those of adjacent vertebrae and a bony arch that encloses the spinal cord.

   Synonym: (rare) spondyle

   Hyponym: anticlinal vertebra

   Meronyms: see Thesaurus:vertebra

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     Already I seemed to hear the water rippling against the desiccated bones and rattling them together, rolling my skull against Mahomed's, and his against mine, till at last Mahomed's stood straight up upon its vertebræ, and glared at me through its empty eyeholes, and cursed me with its grinning jaws, because I, a dog of a Christian, disturbed the last sleep of a true believer.

Derived terms

• cervical vertebra
• coccygeal vertebra
• hemivertebra
• lumbar vertebra
• prevertebra
• protovertebra
• sacral vertebra
• thoracic vertebra
• vertebral
• vertebraless
• vertebrate
• vertebro-, vertebr-

 

Related terms

• vertebrally

Translations

any of the small bones making up the backbone

• Afrikaans: werwel
• Arabic: فَقَرَة f (faqara)

  Egyptian Arabic: فقرة f (faqara)

• Armenian: ող (hy) (oġ)
• Bashkir: умыртҡа (umırtqa)
• Belarusian: пазвано́к m (pazvanók)
• Bulgarian: гръбначен прешлен m (grǎbnačen prešlen)
• Burmese: ကျောရိုးဆစ် sg (kyau:rui:hcac), ကျောရိုးဆစ်များ pl (kyau:rui:hcacmya:)
• Catalan: vèrtebra (ca) f
• Cebuano: dugokan
• Chinese:

  Hokkien: 透龍骨 / 透龙骨 (thàu-liông-kut)

  Mandarin: 椎骨 (zh) (zhuīgǔ), 脊椎 (zh) (jǐzhuī), 脊椎骨 (zh) (jǐzhuīgǔ)

• Czech: obratel (cs) m
• Danish: ryghvirvel (da) c
• Dutch: wervel (nl) m, rugwervel (nl) m, ruggengraatswervel m
• Egyptian: (ṯz)
• Evenki: сигдэ (sigdə), нугды̄ (nugdī)
• Finnish: nikama (fi), selkänikama (fi)
• French: vertèbre (fr) m
• Galician: vértebra (gl) f
• Georgian: მალა (mala), ხერხემალი (xerxemali)
• German: Wirbel (de) m, Wirbelknochen m
• Greek: σπόνδυλος (el) m (spóndylos)

  Ancient: σφόνδυλος m (sphóndulos)

• Hebrew: חֻלְיָה (he) f (ẖulyá)
• Hungarian: csigolya (hu)
• Ingrian: piiluu, nikan
• Interlingua: vertebra
• Inupiaq: ikik
• Irish: veirteabra f
• Italian: vertebra (it) f
• Japanese: 椎骨 (ja) (ついこつ, tsuikotsu)
• Korean: 척추(脊椎) (ko) (cheokchu)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بڕبڕە (ckb) (birrbirre)

  Northern Kurdish: birrbirre m

• Latin: vertebra f
• Latvian: skriemelis m
• Macedonian: пршлен m (pršlen)
• Malayalam: കശേരു (ml) (kaśēru)
• Maori: tangai
• Mongolian: нугалам (mn) (nugalam), нурууны үе (nuruuny üje), нугалмай (mn) (nugalmaj), сээр (mn) (seer)
• Navajo: íígháán
• Norwegian: ryggvirvel m
• Ottoman Turkish: فقره (fıkra), مهره (mühre)
• Persian: مهره (fa) (mohre)
• Polish: kręg (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: vértebra (pt) f
• Romanian: vertebră (ro) f
• Russian: позвоно́к (ru) m (pozvonók)
• Scottish Gaelic: cnàimh an droma m, dromaltach m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пршљен m, кра́љежак m, кра́љешак m

  Roman: pršljen (sh) m, králježak (sh) m, králješak (sh) m

• Slovene: vretence (sl) n
• Spanish: vértebra (es) f
• Swedish: ryggkota (sv) c, kota (sv) c
• Tagalog: gulugod
• Turkish: omur (tr)
• Ukrainian: хребе́ць m (xrebécʹ)
• Walloon: cronzoxh (wa) m
• Welsh: cefngymal m, fertebra m
• Yakut: тоноҕос (tonoğos)

See also

• coccyx

References

• “vertebra”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “vertebra”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Esperanto

Adjective

vertebra (accusative singular vertebran, plural vertebraj, accusative plural vertebrajn)

1. vertebrate

Antonyms

• malvertebra (“invertebrate”)

Hypernyms

• ĥordohava, ĥordula (“chordate”)

Related terms

• vertebro (“a vertebrate”)

Interlingua

Noun

vertebra (plural vertebras)

1. vertebra

Italian

Etymology

From Latin vertebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛr.te.bra/
• Rhymes: -ɛrtebra
• Hyphenation: vèr‧te‧bra

Noun

vertebra f (plural vertebre)

1. (anatomy) vertebra

Related terms

• vertebra cervicale
• vertebrale
• vertebra lombare
• vertebrato
• vertebra toracica

Further reading

• vertebra in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• tra breve

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈu̯er.te.bra/, [ˈu̯ɛrt̪ɛbrä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈver.te.bra/, [ˈvɛrt̪ebrä]

Etymology 1

From vertō (“to turn”) +‎ -bra (instrumental nominal suffix). Doublet of vertebrum.

Noun

vertebra f (genitive vertebrae); first declension

1. a joint
2. (anatomy) a joint, vertebra of the spine

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	vertebra	vertebrae
genitive	vertebrae	vertebrārum
dative	vertebrae	vertebrīs
accusative	vertebram	vertebrās
ablative	vertebrā	vertebrīs
vocative	vertebra	vertebrae

Derived terms

• vertebrālis (adjective)
• vertebrātus (adjective)

Descendants

Descendants

• → English: vertebra
• → French: vertèbre
• → Galician: vértebra
• Irish: veirteabra
• → Italian: vertebra
• → Portuguese: vértebra
• → Spanish: vértebra

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

vertebra n

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of vertebrum

References

• “vertebra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vertebra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Manx

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vertebra.

Noun

vertebra f (genitive singular vertebra, plural vertebraghyn)

1. (anatomy) vertebra

Synonyms

• junt craue-drommey

Derived terms

• vertebragh (“vertebrate, vertebral”)

Spanish

Verb

vertebra

1. inflection of vertebrar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative