Bone Markings

Facet

Smooth, nearly flat articular surface. (French for small face; small articular surfaces covered with hyaline cartilage.)

Condyle (KON-dyl)

Large, round articulating prominence. (A round bump on a bone where it forms a joint with another bone.)

Head

A ball-like articulating surface. (A round articulating surface shaped like a ball; the rounded end of a bone that fits into a rounded cavity in another bone to form a joint.)

Fossa (FOS-a)

A bone depression. (Latin for "cavity"; a depression or small hollow; a concavity in a surface [especially an anatomical depression]; shallow, basinlike depression in a bone, often serving as an articular surface.)

Cotyloid (KOT-i-loid)

A cavity or deep articular depression ([e.g., acetabulum]; articular depression; deep concave circular surface that is stable, as where the head of the femur attaches. )

Fissure (FISH-ur)

A narrow opening between two bones. (A narrow, slitlike opening through a bone; [anatomy] a long narrow slit or groove that divides an organ [in this case, a bone] into lobes.)

Fovea (FOH-vee-a)

A pit or depression. (Latin for "pit"; a shallow non-articulating depression such as is found in the head of the femur; a tiny pit or depression.)

Epicondyle (EPI-KON-dyl)

A projection above a condyle. (An eminence (protuberance) at the articular end of a long bone, above or upon the condyle; a projection on a bone above a condyle serving for the attachment of muscles and ligaments.)

Trochanter (troh-KAN-ter)

A proximal process of the femur. (Greek for "runner"; one of the bony prominences developed near the upper extremity of the femur to which muscles are attached,

Trochlea (TROCK-lee-a)

A pulley-shaped articular process. (Greek for "spool"; a "keyed" tubular pulley-shaped articular design [e.g., trochlea of the femur]; a smooth, grooved articular process shaped like a pulley.)

Line

A ridge on a bone not as prominent as a crest.

Crest

A significant border or ridge.

Tubercle (Tuberosity/Tubera)

A small rounded or rough bone prominence. (Latin for "knob"; a protuberance on a bone especially for attachment of a muscle or ligament.)

Foramen (foh-Ray-men)

An opening or hole in a bone. (Latin for "aperture"; a natural opening or perforation through a bone or a membranous structure; an opening in a bone through which blood vessels, nerves, and ligaments pass.)

Process

Any prominent bone projection. (Latin for "proceed"; A crest, trochanter, tuberosity, or spine)

Malleolus (mal-LEY-oh-lus)

Hammer-shaped bone projection. (Latin for "little hammer"; the projection of bone as in the distal end of the tibia; a hammer-like projection located on the medial (tibial) and lateral (fibular) side of the ankle joint; a hammer-shaped knob on the end of a bone that attaches to ligament and tendon,)

Acetabulum (ah-see-TAB-yoo-lum)

Hipbone socket. (The socket or cavity (cotyloid) of the hipbone into which the head of the femur fits.)

Ala (Ah-lah)

Outward projections. (Latin for "wing"; outward projections as in the transverse process of the atlas [first neck bone] and large surface of the ilium region of the hipbone.)

Spine

Slender sharp bone projection. (Latin for "thorn.")