anatomy
Meaning of anatomy: Anatomy is the branch of biological science that examines the structure of the body and how its parts are organized.
Definition of anatomy
Anatomy is the scientific study of the structure of the body, including the organization, position, and relationships of its organs, tissues, and other parts. In humans, anatomy is typically studied at different scales, from gross anatomy, which examines structures visible to the naked eye, to microscopic anatomy, which examines tissue at the cellular level.
Understanding anatomy provides the foundation for describing where a finding is located, how structures relate to one another, and how a disease or injury might affect a particular region of the body. Anatomical terminology uses standardized directional and positional terms so that the location of a structure or finding can be described precisely and consistently across clinical settings.
Anatomy is closely linked to physiology, which studies how the body's structures function, since the two fields together describe both the form and the function of the body.
How anatomy is built
- ana- Prefix · Greek up, back, again
- -otomy, -tomy Suffix · Greek cutting into, incision
A medical term is read from its ending backwards: the suffix first, then the prefix, then the root. See all 223 word parts.
Used in a sentence
The report described the anatomy of the affected region in detail prior to surgical planning.
Good to know
Anatomy describes the structure of the body, while physiology describes how that structure functions, and the two are often discussed together because structural findings are interpreted in light of the function they support.
Word origin
Where “anatomy” comes from
Formed from Greek anatome, from ana- (meaning "up") and tome (meaning "a cutting"), reflecting the practice of dissection used to study bodily structure.