7 – AXIAL SKELETON Name_____________________________________
VOCABULARY MASTERY Date___________________________ Pd._______
1. AXIAL SKELETON – forms the longitudinal axis of the body; 80 bones, roughly 40% of the bones in the
body
2. APPENDICULAR SKELETON – includes bones of the limbs, pectoral and pelvic girdles that attach limbs
to trunk; 126 bones
3. 8 CRANIAL BONES – occipital, parietal, frontal, temporal, sphenoid, ethmoid bones; together, the cranial
bones surround or enclose the cranial cavity
4. FACIAL BONES – protect and support the entrances to the digestive and respiratory tracts
5. SUTURES OF SKULL – connections between the skull bones – immovable joints called sutures; at
sutures, bones are tied firmly together with dense fibrous connective tissue
6. ORBITS – bony recesses that contain the eyes
7. PARANASAL SINUSES – frontal, sphenoid, ethmoid, palatine, and maxillary bones; lighten skull bones
and provide an extensive area of mucous epithelium
8. DEVIATED SEPTUM – nasal septum has a bend in it – typically at the junction of the bony and
cartilaginous area – can block drainage in one or more sinuses
9. FONTANELS – largest fibrous areas between the cranial bones
10. 4 SPINAL CURVES – cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral
11. 3 VERTEBRAL PARTS – vertebral body, vertebral arch, articular processes
12. ARTICULAR PROCESSES – arise at the junction between the pedicles and the laminae
13. BIFID – cut into two parts – a notched spinous process
14. ATLAS – cervical vertebra C1; holds up the head, articulates with the occipital condyles of the skull…
Atlas holds the world on his shoulders (GREEK)
15. AXIS – cervical vertebra C2; during development, body of atlas C1 fuses to C2, the axis – this fusion creates
the prominent dens, a.k.a., odontoid process of the axis
16. DENS – prominent dens = tooth; odontoid process
17. FACET – articular surface on the body of a single vertebra
18. SACRUM – fused parts of 5 sacral vertebrae
19. COCCYX – 3-5 fused coccygeal vertebrae – have typically begun fusing by age 26
20. STERNUM – place of rib attachment; i.e., breastbone – flatbone that forms in the anterior midline of the
thoracic wall
21. MANUBRIUM – broad, triangular; articulates with the clavicles and the cartilages of the first pair of ribs –
widest and most superior portion of the sternum
22. XIPHOID PROCESS – smallest part of the sternum; attached to the inferior surface of the body – the
diaphragm and rectus abdominis muscles attach to this
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