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sternum

/ˈstʌrnəm/
/ˈstʌnəm/
IPA guide

Other forms: sternums

Your sternum is your breastbone, the flat plate at the top of your rib cage. Mammals and birds — and even arachnids, or spiders — have a sternum.

If you study human anatomy, you'll learn that the sternum is a long, flat, T-shaped bone made of fused segments. The rib cage attaches the sternum to the spine, or vertebrae. The word itself comes from the Greek sternon, "chest, breast, or breastbone," from a root that means "flat surface."

Definitions of sternum
  1. noun
    the flat bone that articulates with the clavicles and the first seven pairs of ribs
    synonyms: breastbone
    see moresee less
    type of:
    bone, os
    rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates
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