Definition
nounThe art of studying the different parts of any organized body, to discover their situation, structure, and economy.
nounThe science that deals with the form and structure of organic bodies; anatomical structure or organization.
Sentence Examples
What part of Betty Grable's anatomy was famously insured for $1,000,000?
Elisa has enrolled in the anatomy department.
Teachers dissect frogs to teach students their anatomy.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *h₂en-
Proto-Hellenic *aná
Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ́ (ănắ)
Ancient Greek ἀνα- (ana-)
Proto-Indo-European *temh₁-
Proto-Indo-European *-né-
Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō)
Ancient Greek ἀνατέμνω (anatémnō)
Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā)
Ancient Greek -η (-ē)
Ancient Greek ἀνατομή (anatomḗ)
Ancient Greek *ἀνατομία (*anatomía)bor.
Latin anatomiader.
Old French anatomiebor.
Middle English anatomie
English anatomy
From Middle English anatomie, from Old French anatomie, from Latin anatomia, from Ancient Greek *ἀνατομία (*anatomía), from ἀνατομή (anatomḗ, “dissection”, literally “cutting up”), from ἀνά (aná, “up”) + τέμνω (témnō, “to cut, incise”). By surface analysis, ana- + -tomy. Doublet of ottomy.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Let the muscles be well inserted and bound together, according to the knowledge of them which is given us by anatomy."
— 1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […], →OCLC:
"The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure."
— 2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:
"His extraordinary suggestion is that the future PM inserted a private part of his anatomy into the animal's mouth."
— 2015 September 20, Michael Ashcroft, Isabel Oakeshott, “Drugs, debauchery and the making of an extraordinary Prime Minister: For years rumours have dogged him. Now, the truth about the shockingly decadent Oxford days of the gifted Bullingdon boy”, in Daily Mail:
"On the debate stage days later, Trump wanted all of America to know there was "no problem" with the size of his hands — or any other part of his anatomy."
— 2016 December 28, Jessica Taylor, “11 Times Donald Trump Looked Like He Was Done For”, in NPR: