# vertebra
## English
### Etymology

Borrowing from Latin vertebra (“a joint”), from vertō (“to turn”) +‎ -bra (instrumental nominal suffix). Having multiple vertebrae (plural of vertebra) in one's backbone instead of having a single bone or solid spine, allows for the movement of the body with bends and turns. Hence meaning 1.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈvɜː.tɪb.ɹə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈvɝ.təb.ɹə/, /ˈvɝ.təˌbɹeɪ/
** Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tɪbɹə

### Noun

vertebra (plural vertebrae or (obsolete) vertebræ or vertebras)
* (anatomy) Any of the bony or cartilaginous segments which make up the backbone, consisting in some lower vertebrates of several distinct elements which never become united, and in higher vertebrates having a short more or less cylindrical body whose ends articulate by pads of elastic or cartilaginous tissue with those of adjacent vertebrae and a bony arch that encloses the spinal cord.
    Synonym: (rare) spondyle
    Hyponym: anticlinal vertebra
    Meronyms: see Thesaurus:vertebra
** 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:Already I seemed to hear the water rippling against the desiccated bones and rattling them together, rolling my skull against Mahomed's, and his against mine, till at last Mahomed's stood straight up upon its vertebræ, and glared at me through its empty eyeholes, and cursed me with its grinning jaws, because I, a dog of a Christian, disturbed the last sleep of a true believer.

#### Derived terms

* cervical vertebra
* coccygeal vertebra
* hemivertebra
* lumbar vertebra
* prevertebra
* protovertebra
* sacral vertebra
* thoracic vertebra
* vertebral
* vertebraless
* vertebrate
* vertebro-, vertebr-

#### Related terms

* vertebrally

#### Translations

Afrikaans: werwel
Arabic: فَقَرَة f (faqara)
Egyptian Arabic: فقرة f (faqara)
Armenian: ող (hy) (oġ)
Bashkir: умыртҡа (umırtqa)
Belarusian: пазвано́к m (pazvanók)
Bulgarian: гръбначен прешлен m (grǎbnačen prešlen)
Burmese: ကျောရိုးဆစ် sg (kyau:rui:hcac), ကျောရိုးဆစ်များ pl (kyau:rui:hcacmya:)
Catalan: vèrtebra (ca) f
Cebuano: dugokan
Chinese:
Hokkien: 透龍骨 / 透龙骨 (thàu-liông-kut)
Mandarin: 椎骨 (zh) (zhuīgǔ), 脊椎 (zh) (jǐzhuī), 脊椎骨 (zh) (jǐzhuīgǔ)
Czech: obratel (cs) m
Danish: ryghvirvel (da) c
Dutch: wervel (nl) m, rugwervel (nl) m, ruggengraatswervel m
Egyptian: (ṯz)
Evenki: сигдэ (sigdə), нугды̄ (nugdī)
Finnish: nikama (fi), selkänikama (fi)
French: vertèbre (fr) m
Galician: vértebra (gl) f
Georgian: მალა (mala), ხერხემალი (xerxemali)
German: Wirbel (de) m, Wirbelknochen m
Greek: σπόνδυλος (el) m (spóndylos)
Ancient: σφόνδυλος m (sphóndulos)
Hebrew: חֻלְיָה (he) f (ẖulyá)
Hungarian: csigolya (hu)
Ingrian: piiluu, nikan
Interlingua: vertebra
Inupiaq: ikik
Irish: veirteabra f
Italian: vertebra (it) f
Japanese: 椎骨 (ja) (ついこつ, tsuikotsu)
Korean: 척추(脊椎) (ko) (cheokchu)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: بڕبڕە (ckb) (birrbirre)
Northern Kurdish: birrbirre m
Latin: vertebra f
Latvian: skriemelis m
Macedonian: пршлен m (pršlen)
Malayalam: കശേരു (ml) (kaśēru)
Maori: tangai
Mongolian: нугалам (mn) (nugalam), нурууны үе (nuruuny üje), нугалмай (mn) (nugalmaj), сээр (mn) (seer)
Navajo: íígháán
Norwegian: ryggvirvel m
Ottoman Turkish: فقره (fıkra), مهره (mühre)
Pannonian Rusyn: персцень m (perscenʹ)
Persian: مهره (fa) (mohre)
Polish: kręg (pl) m
Portuguese: vértebra (pt) f
Romanian: vertebră (ro) f
Russian: позвоно́к (ru) m (pozvonók)
Scottish Gaelic: cnàimh an droma m, dromaltach m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: пршљен m, кра́љежак m, кра́љешак m
Roman: pršljen (sh) m, králježak (sh) m, králješak (sh) m
Slovak: stavec (sk) m
Slovene: vretence (sl) n
Spanish: vértebra (es) f
Swedish: ryggkota (sv) c, kota (sv) c
Tagalog: gulugod
Turkish: omur (tr)
Ukrainian: хребе́ць m (xrebécʹ)
Walloon: cronzoxh (wa) m
Welsh: cefngymal m, fertebra m
Yakut: тоноҕос (tonoğos) :

### See also

* coccyx

### References

* “vertebra”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “vertebra”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

## Esperanto
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [verˈtebra]
* Rhymes: -ebra
* Hyphenation: ver‧te‧bra

### Adjective

vertebra (accusative singular vertebran, plural vertebraj, accusative plural vertebrajn)
* vertebrate

#### Antonyms

* malvertebra (“invertebrate”)

#### Hypernyms

* ĥordohava, ĥordula (“chordate”)

#### Related terms

* vertebro (“a vertebrate”)

## Indonesian
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin vertebra (“a joint, vertebra of the spine”).

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Indonesian) IPA: /vɛrˈtebra/ [fɛrˈt̪e.bra]
* Rhymes: -ebra
* Syllabification: ver‧te‧bra

### Noun

vertebra (plural)
* (anatomy) backbone, spinal column, spine, vertebral column
    Synonyms: tulang belakang, tulang punggung, spina
* (anatomy) vertebra: any of the bony or cartilaginous segments which make up the backbone, consisting in some lower vertebrates of several distinct elements which never become united, and in higher vertebrates having a short more or less cylindrical body whose ends articulate by pads of elastic or cartilaginous tissue with those of adjacent vertebrae and a bony arch that encloses the spinal cord.

### Further reading

* “vertebra” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Interlingua
### Noun

vertebra (plural vertebras)
* vertebra

## Italian
### Etymology

From Latin vertebra.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈvɛr.te.bra/
* Rhymes: -ɛrtebra
* Hyphenation: vèr‧te‧bra

### Noun

vertebra f (plural vertebre)
* (anatomy) vertebra

#### Related terms

* vertebra cervicale
* vertebrale
* vertebra lombare
* vertebrato
* vertebra toracica

### Further reading

* vertebra in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

### Anagrams

* tra breve

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈu̯er.te.bra/, [ˈu̯ɛrt̪ɛbrä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈver.te.bra/, [ˈvɛrt̪ebrä]

### Etymology 1

From vertō (“to turn”) +‎ -bra (instrumental nominal suffix). Doublet of vertebrum.

#### Noun

vertebra f (genitive vertebrae); first declension
* a joint
* (anatomy) a joint, vertebra of the spine
* This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

##### Inflection

First-declension noun.

##### Derived terms

* vertebrālis (adjective)
* vertebrātus (adjective)

##### Descendants

* → English: vertebra
* → French: vertèbre
* → Galician: vértebra
* → Irish: veirteabra
* → Italian: vertebra
* → Portuguese: vértebra
* → Spanish: vértebra

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Noun

vertebra n
* nominative/accusative/vocative plural of vertebrum

### References

* “vertebra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* vertebra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

## Manx
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin vertebra.

### Noun

vertebra f (genitive singular vertebra, plural vertebraghyn)
* (anatomy) vertebra

#### Synonyms

* junt craue-drommey

#### Derived terms

* vertebragh (“vertebrate, vertebral”)

## Spanish
### Verb

vertebra
* inflection of vertebrar:
** third-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative