Anatomical Terminology

Question 1

What are the three planes of the body?

Answer 1

• Midsagittal = divides into right and left
• Dorsal = divides into top and bottom
• Transverse = divides into front and rear

Question 2

What does medial mean?

Answer 2

Medial is a directional term that means towards the midline.

Question 3

What does lateral mean?

Answer 3

Lateral is a directional term that means away from midline.

Question 4

What does cranial mean?

Answer 4

Cranial is a directional term that means closer to head

Question 5

What does caudal mean?

Answer 5

Caudal is a directional term that means closer to tail or away from the nose

Question 6

What does rostral mean?

Answer 6

Rostral is a directional term for the head means towards the nose.

Question 7

What does dorsal mean?

Answer 7

Dorsal is a directional term that means closer to the back or the cranial aspect of paws (“top of the feet”)

Question 8

What does ventral mean?

Answer 8

Ventral is a directional term that means closer to the underside belly.

Question 9

What does anterior mean?

Answer 9

Anterior is a directional term that means front of the body.

Question 10

What does posterior mean?

Answer 10

Posterior is a directional term that means rear of the body.

Question 11

What does superior mean?

Answer 11

Superior is a directional term that means uppermost, above, or toward the head

Question 12

What does inferior mean?

Answer 12

Inferior is a directional term that means lowermost, below, or towards the tail.

Question 13

What does superficial mean?

Answer 13

Superficial is a directional term that means near the surface, external.

Question 14

What does deep mean?

Answer 14

Deep is a directional term that means away from the surface, internal.

Question 15

What does proximal mean?

Answer 15

Proximal is a directional term for limb that means closer to attachment of limb to body.

Question 16

What does distal mean?

Answer 16

Distal is a directional term for limb that means further from attachment of limb to body or away from midline of the face.

Question 17

What does palmar mean?

Answer 17

Palmar is a directional term for limb that means the caudal aspect front paw (“paws down”)

Question 18

What does plantar mean?

Answer 18

Plantar is a directional term for limb that means caudal aspect rear paw. (“plant your feet”)

Question 19

What does labial mean?

Answer 19

Labial is a directional term for mouth that means towards the lips.

Question 20

What does buccal mean?

Answer 20

Buccal is a directional term for mouth that means towards the cheek.

Question 21

What does palatal mean?

Answer 21

Palatal is a directional term for mouth that means inside of mouth upper jaw, which another word is called maxilla.

Question 22

What does lingual mean?

Answer 22

Lingual is a direction term for mouth that means inside of mouth lower jaw, which another word is called mandible.

Question 23

What does coronal mean?

Answer 23

Coronal is a directional term for mouth that means towards the crown.

Question 24

What does apical mean?

Answer 24

Apical is a directional term for mouth that means towards the apex.

Question 25

What does mesial mean?

Answer 25

Mesial is a directional term for mouth that means towards midline of the face.