vertebra

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.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈvɜː.tɪb.ɹə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvɝ.təb.ɹə/, /ˈvɝ.təˌbɹeɪ/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)tɪbɹə

vertebra (plural vertebrae or (obsolete) vertebræ or vertebras)

2. (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.

• vertebrally

• coccyx

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

• IPA^(key): /verˈtebra/
• Rhymes: -ebra
• Hyphenation: ver‧te‧bra

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

1. vertebrate

• malvertebra (“invertebrate”)

• ĥordohava, ĥordula (“chordate”)

• vertebro (“a vertebrate”)

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

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

vertebra (plural vertebra-vertebra)

1. (anatomy) backbone, spinal column, spine, vertebral column

   Synonyms: tulang belakang, tulang punggung, spina

3. (anatomy) vertebra

• “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.

vertebra (plural vertebras)

1. vertebra

From Latin vertebra.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɛr.te.bra/
• Rhymes: -ɛrtebra
• Hyphenation: vèr‧te‧bra

vertebra f (plural vertebre)

1. (anatomy) vertebra

• vertebra cervicale
• vertebrale
• vertebra lombare
• vertebrato
• vertebra toracica

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

• tra breve

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈwɛr.tɛ.bra]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈvɛr.t̪e.bra]

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

vertebra f (genitive vertebrae); first declension

1. a joint
2. (anatomy) a joint, vertebra of the spine

First-declension noun.

• vertebrālis (adjective)
• vertebrātus (adjective)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

vertebra n

1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of vertebrum

• “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.

vertebra

1. inflection of vertebrar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative