close
Jump to content

anatomy

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

[edit]
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂en-
Proto-Hellenic *aná
Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ́ (ănắ)
Ancient Greek ἀνα- (ana-)
Proto-Indo-European *temh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-né-
Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō)
Ancient Greek ἀνατέμνω (anatémnō)
Proto-Indo-European *-h₂
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā)
Ancient Greek -η (-ē)
Ancient Greek ἀνατομή (anatomḗ)
Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós
Proto-Italic *-ijos
Proto-Italic *-ios
Old Latin -ios
Latin -ius
Latin -ia
Latin anatomiader.
Old French anatomiebor.
Middle English anatomie
English anatomy

    From Middle English anatomie, from Old French anatomie, from Latin anatomia, from Ancient Greek ἀνατομή (anatomḗ, “dissection”, literally “cutting up”), from ἀνα- (ana-, “up”) + τέμνω (témnō, “to cut, incise”). By surface analysis, ana- +‎ -tomy. Doublet of ottomy.

    Pronunciation

    [edit]

    Noun

    [edit]

    anatomy (countable and uncountable, plural anatomies)

    1. The science that deals with the form and structure of organic bodies; anatomical structure or organization.
      Hyponyms: anthropotomy, phytotomy, zootomy
      Animal anatomy is also called zootomy; vegetable anatomy, phytotomy; and human anatomy, anthropotomy.
      • 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:
        Let the muscles be well inserted and bound together, according to the knowledge of them which is given us by anatomy.
    2. The study of the parts of any organized body, to discover their situation, structure, and economy.
      Hyponym: dissection
    3. The physical or functional organization of an organism, or part of it.
      I went to the Venice beach body-building competition and noticed the competitor from Athens, and let me tell you, that's what I call classic Greek anatomy.
      • 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
        The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.
    4. (countable) A treatise or book on anatomy.
    5. (colloquial) The form of an individual.
    6. (euphemistic) The human body, especially in reference to the genitals.
      • 2015 September 20, Michael Ashcroft, Isabel Oakeshott, “Drugs, debauchery and the making of an extraordinary Prime Minister: For years rumours have dogged him. Now, the truth about the shockingly decadent Oxford days of the gifted Bullingdon boy”, in Daily Mail‎[1]:
        His extraordinary suggestion is that the future PM inserted a private part of his anatomy into the animal's mouth.
      • 2016 December 28, Jessica Taylor, “11 Times Donald Trump Looked Like He Was Done For”, in NPR‎[2]:
        On the debate stage days later, Trump wanted all of America to know there was "no problem" with the size of his hands — or any other part of his anatomy.
    7. (countable, archaic) A skeleton or other dead body.
    8. (by extension) The act of dividing anything, corporeal or intellectual, for the purpose of examining its parts.
      Synonym: analysis
      the anatomy of a discourse
      the anatomy of love
      Burton's famous treatise, "The Anatomy of Melancholy"

    Hyponyms

    [edit]

    Derived terms

    [edit]

    Translations

    [edit]
    art of studying the different parts of any organized body

    See also

    [edit]

    References

    [edit]
    Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=anatomy&oldid=91196750"