centrum

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the thick central body of a vertebra, to which the vertebral arch and other processes attach

   The fossil vertebra retained its centrum but had lost most of the neural arch.

2. 2
   noun

   a center or central part, chiefly in learned or technical use

   The ancient settlement formed the commercial centrum of the region.

Borrowed from Latin centrum ("center"), from Greek kentron ("sharp point, center of a circle"). Anatomy uses it for the central weight-bearing body of a vertebra.

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