Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
wrist bone

wrist bone

1 3.0
Small bones in the wrist that help the hand move
  • noun
  • /rɪst boʊn/
  • Specialized
translation icon : hueso de la muñeca
  • The x-ray revealed a fracture in one of the smaller wrist bones that help stabilize the joint.

Examples

  • But the fingernails are exactly the same, the distance between the joints, even the little bump on the outside of the wrist bone.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • The doctor explained that the injury was to the wrist bone and would require surgery.

  • After the fall, she felt a sharp pain in her wrist bone and knew something was wrong.

Synonyms

carpal
vswrist bone
  • Specialized
18 7.2

One of the small bones in the wrist

is the same meaning but expressed in shorter form
carpal bone
vswrist bone
  • Specialized
1 4.8

One of the eight small bones in the wrist between the forearm and the hand

is the same but uses the common name without the location

Surface Forms

wrist bone singular
wrist bones plural
wristbones plural
wristbone singular

Morphology

wrist + bone

The meaning 'any bone of the wrist' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'wrist' (the joint) with 'bone' (skeletal tissue), so a B1 learner who knows both words will understand it as a bone located in the wrist. This is a regular noun+noun compound following common compositional patterns cross-linguistically (though the technical term 'carpal' is more specialized).

Etymology

Wrist bone gives a simple picture: wrist is where your hand meets your arm and bone is the hard part inside the body. It simply points to the 'small bones' that make the wrist bend and move.