sternocleidomastoid

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   one of two thick muscles running from the sternum and clavicle to the mastoid and occipital bone

   Turning the head to the opposite side activates the sternocleidomastoid.

Borrowed from New Latin sternocleidomastoīdēs, from Latin sternum (“the breastbone”) + Ancient Greek κλείς (kleís, “the collarbone”) + Latin mastoīdēs (“like a breast”), equivalent to sterno- + cleido- + mastoid.

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