Word.ws English Dictionary

epistropheus

epistropheus noun: the second cervical vertebra of the spine which forms the pivot upon which the first cervical vertebra (the atlas), which carries the head, rotates.

epistropheus: the second cervical vertebra of the spine which forms the pivot upon which the first cervical...
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Noun

epistropheus

  1. The second cervical vertebra of the spine which forms the pivot upon which the first cervical vertebra (the atlas), which carries the head, rotates.
    • The union of the atlas and epistropheus is described in this section because (1) there is often a direct communication between the synovial cavity of the transverse epistropic and the occipito-atlantal joints; (2) the rotatory movements of the head take place around the dens (odontoid process); and...1914, Human Anatomy: A Complete Systematic Treatise, page 215
    Synonyms:
    axis, vertebra dentata

Synonyms of epistropheus

  • axis
  • vertebra dentata

Questions about epistropheus

What does epistropheus mean?
Epistropheus means the second cervical vertebra of the spine which forms the pivot upon which the first cervical vertebra (the atlas), which carries the head, rotates.
What part of speech is epistropheus?
Epistropheus is a noun.

Words near epistropheus in the dictionary

  1. epistopics
  2. epistratum
  3. epistrophe
  4. epistropheal
  5. epistrophes
  6. epistropheus
  7. epistrophic
  8. epistrophies
  9. epistrophy
  10. epistylar
  11. epistyle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: epistropheus (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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