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ulna - Latin = elbow or arm; hence, the medial bone of the forearm.
Ulnaris - (L. ulna, elbow forearm). Pertaining to the larger and more medial of the two bones of the forearm.
Ultrasound - A set of sound waves at a particular frequency which can be used to image internal organs, for example, a baby in the womb.
Umbilical Cord - A cord arising from the navel that connects the fetus with the placenta.
umbilicus - Latin = the navel.
umbo - Latin = the boss on the centre of a shield, umbo of tympanic membrane.
uncinate - Latin uncinatus = hooked.
Uncinatus - (L. uncus, hook). Os hamatum or unciform bone. A muscle attached to the hook of the hamate, e.g., pisiuncinatus.
uncus - Latin = hook; adjective - uncinate.
ungual - pertaining to Latin unguis = finger-nail.
urachus - Greek ouron = urine, and echein = to hold, hence the canal connecting the bladder and umbilicus in the foetus.
ureter - Greek oureter = passage from kidney to bladder.
urethra - Greek ourethra = passage from bladder to exterior.
Urethrae - (G. ourethra, urethra). Relating to the urethra, e. g., musculus sphincter urethrae. á
urinary system - helps maintain homeostasis by regulating water balance and by removing harmful substances from the blood.
uterus - Latin = womb.
utricle - diminutive of Latin uterus = womb.
uvea - Latin uva = grape. The pigmented vascular layer of the eyeball (iris, ciliary body and choroid).
uvula - diminutive of Latin uva = grape.
V
vagina - Latin = sheath; hence, invagination is the acquisition of a sheath by pushing inwards into a membrane, and evagination is similar but produced by pushing outwards.
Vaginae - (L. vagina, sheath). Pertaining to a muscle attached to a joint capsule.
vagus - Latin = wandering; hence, cranial nerve X, which leaves the head and neck to traverse the thorax and upper part of the abdomen.
Vagus Nerve - Either of the 10th pair of cranial nerves that arise from the medulla and supply chiefly the viscera especially with autonomic sensory and motor fibers -- called also vagus.
valgus - Latin = knock-kneed.
vallate - Latin vallatus = walled; hence, the large papillae on the tongue which are depressed below the surface and are surrounded by a groove which is itself bounded by a wall.
vallecula - diminutive of Latin vallis = a fossa.
valve - Latin valva = the segment of a folding-door.
valvula - diminutive of Latin valva.
varicocoele - Latin varix = vein and Greek kele = tumour, hernia, hence a varicose condition of the veins of the pampiniform plexus.
varus - Latin = bow-legged.
vas - Latin = vessel (plural = vasa).
vascular - Latin vasculum, diminutive of vas; hence, pertaining to blood vessels.
Vascularity - The blood supply of a tumour.
Vastus - (L. vastus, huge). A large muscle of the thigh, musculus quadriceps with three vasti and a rectus. á
vastus - Latin = great, vast, extensive.
vein - Latin vena; adjective - venous.
veins - carry blood toward the heart.
velum - Latin = curtain; veli = of a curtain.
Venous - Venous refers to the system or veins by which blood is returned to the lungs for oxygenation.
venter - Latin = belly; hence, ventral, pertaining to the belly side.
ventricle - diminutive of Latin venter = a small belly.
ventricles - the two lower chambers of the heart that serve as the pumping machines.
vermiform - Latin vermis = a worm, and forma = shape; hence, worm-shaped.
vermis - Latin = worm; hence, the segmented median part of the cerebellum.
vertebra - Latin verto = I turn; hence, one of the movable bones of the backbone which seems to be shaped for rotation.
vertex - Latin = summit; hence the highest point on the skull.
vertical - perpendicular (at a right angle) to the horizontal.
Vertigo - Dizziness or a sensation of whirling or irregular motion that arises from problems within the vestibular portion of the inner ear. Objective vertigo is the name given the sensation that the world is
spinning about the patient. Subjective vertigo indicates the patient feels he is moving in space.
vesica - Latin = bladder, adjective - vesical.
vesicle - diminutive of Latin vesica = bladder, hence a little bladder.
vesicles - small, spherically shaped sacs that bud from the ends of a Golgi apparatus.
vesicula - diminutive of Latin vesica = bladder; seminal vesicle.
vestibule - Latin vestibulum = entrance hall.
vibrissa - Latin vibrare = to vibrate; hence, the hairs in the nasal vestibule which vibrate in the current of air.
villus - Latin a hair; hence, a vascular, hair-like process, usually projecting from a mucous surface.
Villus (pl. villi) - One of the minute finger-shaped processes of the mucous membrane of the small intestine that serve in the absorption of nutriment.
vincula - Latin = fetters (singular - vinculum); hence, the delicate vascular synovial bands passing to a tendon in the digits.
Virchow node (jugular gland, signal node) - A firm supraclavicular lymph node, especially on the left side, sufficiently enlarged that it is palpable from the cutaneous surface; such a lymph node is so termed
because it may be the first recognised presumptive evidence of a malignant neoplasm in one of the viscera. A signal node that is known to contain a metastasis from a malignant neoplasm is sometimes designated by an old eponym,
Troisier ganglion.
Viruses - Viruses are infectious agents found in virtually all life forms, including humans, animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria. Viruses consist of genetic material-either deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or
ribonucleic acid (RNA)-surrounded by a protective coating of protein, called a capsid, with or without an outer lipid envelope.
visceral - adjective, Latin viscus = an internal organ.
Viscosity - The resistance offered by a fluid (liquid or gas) to flow. The viscosity is a characteristic property and is a measure of the combined effects of adhesion and cohesion. Hyperviscosity syndrome:
Blood too thick to flow properly.
viscus - Latin = an internal organ, plural - viscera, adjective - visceral.
vital - Latin vita = life.
Vitamin - Any of various organic substances that are essential in minute quantities to the nutrition of most animals and some plants, act especially as coenzymes and precursors of coenzymes in the regulation
of metabolic processes but do not provide energy or serve as building units, and are present in natural foodstuffs or sometimes produced within the body.
vitelline - Latin vitellus = yolk.
vitreous - Latin vitreus = glassy.
vocal - adjective, Latin vox = voice.
vomer - Latin = plough-share; hence, the bone of the nasal septum which is split in two at its upper edge.
Von Recklinghausen disease - Neurofibromatosis is an inherited disorder of the nervous system.
vorticosae - Latin vortex = whirl; hence the whirl-like arrangement of the 4 venae vorticosae leaving the eyeball.
vulva - Latin = the external female genitalia.
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