Skip to content
ARCHIEENGLISH
LearnPlayWordsRanking
  • Learn
  • Play
  • Words
  • Ranking
  • Mine
← Vocabulary

vertebra

UK/ˈvɜː.tɪb.ɹə/US/ˈvɝ.təb.ɹə/
nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,017 of 15,258neutral

A vertebra is one of the small bones making up the spine. A cracked vertebra, the top vertebra, between each vertebra.

The plural is vertebrae, and people constantly use it for the singular. A human has thirty-three, though the lowest ones fuse in adulthood. Between each pair sits a disc, and a slipped disc is really a bulge pressing on the nerve.

Jmarchn · CC BY-SA 3.0

Definitions of vertebra

  1. 1nounvertebraOne of the small bones making up the spine.B2+

    “The X-ray showed a cracked vertebra in the lower part of her back.”

vertebra is a bone.

Where it comes from

Latin vertebra means a joint, from vertere, to turn. Vertical and versatile come from the same verb.

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *wert-

  2. Latin

    vertebra — a joint

  3. English, today

    vertebra

Borrowing from Latin vertebra (“a joint”), from vertō + -bra. 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.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Dinosaurs & Prehistory

Practise this word

vertebra in the wild

  • In anatomy, the atlas (C1) is the most superior (first) cervical vertebra of the spine and is located in the neck.

    Atlas (anatomy)

  • The bone is named after Atlas of Greek mythology, just as Atlas bore the weight of the heavens, the first cervical vertebra supports the head.

    Atlas (anatomy)

  • The upper part of the sacrum connects with the last lumbar vertebra (L5), and its lower part with the coccyx (tailbone) via the sacral and coccygeal cornua.

    Sacrum

  • In anatomy, the axis (from Latin axis, "axle") is the second cervical vertebra (C2) of the spine, immediately inferior to the atlas, upon which the head rests.

    Axis (anatomy)

  • In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (sing.: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull.

    Cervical vertebrae

1 / 2

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.