occipital bone
3
7.4
- noun
- /ɑˈksɪpɪtəl boʊn/
- Specialized
:
hueso occipital
- The doctor explained that the occipital bone protects the brain at the back of the skull.
- temporal and occipital bone
Examples
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An injury to the occipital bone can cause vision problems due to its location.
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For the occipital bone, the key sutures close and ossify by age 6.
Blog text (27) -
Clearly, he's had a severe blow to his occipital bone.
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Most people do not realize that this condition is tied to a smaller and flatter occipital bone.
Blog text (27) -
This opening is formed by the jugular notches in the temporal and occipital bones.
Academic text (2009) -
So the epigenetics of a foreshortened occipital bone predisposes modern humans to this malformation.
Blog text (27) -
During the autopsy, the pathologist noted fractures in the occipital bone.
Synonyms
1
9.9
The back part of the head where it meets the neck
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'occipital' means 'concerning the back part of the skull' and 'bone' is skeletal tissue, so the combined meaning is simply the bone at the back of the skull. Although anatomical terminology is somewhat technical, the sense is predictable from the constituents and therefore accessible to a learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Occipital bone comes from Latin and points to its place on the skull. Occipital may come from a word for the 'back of the head' and bone is the body part, so the name means a 'bone at the back of the head' and helps you remember it protects the back of the brain.