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Regional Terms Anatomy Mnemonics

Learning regional terms in anatomy might seem intimidating at first, but have no fear!
I’m going to show you some simple ways you can remember these anatomical terms,
which are the proper body part names you’ll learn in the health science courses.

Axial vs Appendicular Regions in Anatomy

First, there are two major regions of the body: the axial region and the appendicular
region. The axial region covers the head, neck, and trunk. Remember: people use an
ax to cut down a tree trunk, and axial region runs from the head to the trunk.

The appendicular region includes your upper and lower limbs.  What is an appendage?
It’s something that attaches to a larger structure, right? Your upper and lower limbs
are appendages, so they make up the appendicular region.

Regional Terms Anatomy - Body Parts Name | Nursing …

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Tip: Remember those two main regions (axial and appendicular), because the human
skeleton is also divided into the appendicular skeleton and the axial skeleton, which is
nothing more than a collection of bones found in those same regions.

Axial Regions: Head, Neck, and Trunk

Now let’s take a look at some of the smaller regions found within the axial skeleton,
starting with the head and neck regions.

Head&NeckRegionalTerms
Cranial
(skull) Frontal
(forehead)
Ocular
Cephalic Occipital
(head) (eye)
[baseofskull)
Otic
(ear)
Nasal
Buccal Cervical
(nose) neck)
(cheek)
Avilika/shutterstock.com
Oral
Mental
(mouth)
(chin)

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Head and Neck Regional Terms Anatomy

Cephalic – refers to the entire head region. The word starts with a “c”, and ends
with a “lic.” What main region contains structures that allow you to see and lick?
You use your head, of course!  And when a baby is about to be born, they want it
head down, which is called the cephalic presentation.

Cranial – refers to the skull. Remember: cranial, brainial because the cranium
houses the brain.

Frontal – refers to the front of the head, better known as your forehead. Fore
and front mean the same thing.

Ocular – refers to the eye region. You use binoculars to see things with your
ocular region! This is also called the orbital region.

Otic – refers to the ear region. If you have an earache, your doctor may use an
otoscope to inspect your otic region.

Nasal –  refers to nose region, which most of you will remember because you put
your nasal spray in your nose. Nasal congestion is stuffy nose.

Oral – refers to the mouth region. If a medication is to be taken orally, it means

you are supposed to take it by mouth.

Buccal – refers to the cheek area. We made a video on administering medication

via the buccal route. Where’s that? You place the medication between the check
and gums.

Mental – refers to the chin region. Just remember that men tend to have a
bigger chin, and you’ll remember the mental region.

Occipital – refers to the region at the back of the head at the skull’s base. You
also have the occipital lobe of the brain there, and the occipital bone. Do you see
anatomy terms are all interconnected? You’ll begin to notice this more and more
as you study anatomy.

Cervical – refers to the neck region. That’s what the word cervix means. Guess
what? The first seven bones of your spine are called the cervical vertebrae,
because they are the bones of the neck!

Trunk Regions Anatomy

Now let’s look at the regions found in the trunk, starting with the anterior, or front
side.

Trunk Regional Terms (Anterior)

Thoracic – refers to the entire chest region between the neck and the abdomen,
just like the thorax on an insect. You also have 12 vertebrae in this region are
called the thoracic vertebrae (T1-T12). The ribs, sternum, costal cartilages, and
thoracic vertebrae make up the bony thorax.

Axillary – refers to the armpit region. That’s why they make AXE deodorant
(AXE with an E, because its for your axillary)…to make your axillary region smell
good.  You can also take a temperature via the axillary route.

Mammary – refers to the breast region, where we have mammary glands that
can produce milk. That’s why mammals are called mammals, because they
breastfeed their young.

Sternal –refers to the region in the center of the chest where your breastbone,
called the sternum, is located.

Abdominal region – Most of you know that your abdominal region is where you
abs are located. In anatomy, the abdominal region is commonly subdivided into
four quadrants or even nine regions. I have a video on the abdominal regions
with some mnemonics if you need to dig deeper.

Umbilical – refers to the navel or belly button region. This is where your
umbilical cord attached in the womb.

Pelvic – refers to the region between the hip bones. You shake your pelvis like
Elvis.

Inguinal – refers to your groin area between the pelvic region and pubic region.
If you’ve ever heard of an inguinal hernia, that’s where a person’s intestines
actually slip through the abdominal muscles.

Pubic – refers to your genital region, where you grow pubic hair after hitting
puberty.

Perineal – refers to the region between the genitalia and anus. Nurses perform
“peri-care” for their patients, where they will clean the perineal region. Just
remember to wipe from front to back (genitals toward the anus), and not from
the anus toward the genitals, as you don’t introduce stool to the genital area.

Trunk Regions (Posterior)

Dorsal –refers to the back region. The fin on a dolphin is called its dorsal fin. You
also have a dorsal cavity, which is the cavity towards the back.

Vertebral –refers to the region where your spine runs along your back. The
bones of your spine are called vertebrae.

Lumbar – refers to the region along the lower portion of the back, also known as
your loins. You always see those cheesy chair commercials talking about “lumbar
support,” which simply means it will support your lower back region. The bones
of the spine in this area are called the lumbar vertebrae (L1-L5).

Sacral – refers to the region inferior (below) to the vertebral region, near the
superior cleft of the buttocks. This is a sacred region, and you actually have a
bone here called the sacrum. Some cultures believe the human soul resides in
that bone.

Gluteal – refers to the region of your buttocks. You have large muscles here
called the glutes. So we’ve all got a glutey booty region.

So those are some of the major regions you’ll find within the axial region. Again, what
did the axial region include? It includes the head, neck, and trunk.

Appendicular Regional Terms Anatomy

Now let’s look at some of the areas found in the appendicular regions, starting with
the upper limb, also called the upper extremity.

Upper Limb Region (Upper Extremity) Anatomy

Acromial – refers to the region at the bony part of the shoulder, where you also
have part on your scapula bone called the acromion. Acrobats stand on the
acromial region of other acrobats.

Brachial –refers to the arm region, which is why most of the muscles here have
brachii in their name: biceps brachii, triceps brachii, brachialis.

Antebrachial – refers to the forearm region. You just learned that brachial
means arm, and the prefix ante just means before or in front of. Therefore, ante
(front) brachial (arm) means it’s the forearm. Also, it’s important to note that
many people refer to the entire upper limb as the “arm.” However, in anatomy,
the arm is the region between the elbow and shoulder joints, whereas the
forearm is the region between the elbow and wrist joints.

Antecubital – refers to the anterior (front) region of your elbow. Again, ante
means front and cubital refers to the elbow. Due to the presence of large veins,
nurses will often start IVs in this location. However, nurses will often abbreviate
this as the AC. They’ll say, “I’m going to put an 18 gauge in his AC.”

Olecranal – refers to the region on the back of the elbow. The olecranon process
is the proximal part of the ulna that makes your elbow. Did you notice how
people stopped shaking hands during the pandemic? People started doing this
new move, which I’m calling the olecranal bump by touching elbows instead.

Manual – the entire hand region is referred to as the manual region. If you have
a job that requires manual labor, you’re going to be working with your hands.

Carpal –refers to the wrist, where you have bones called carpals. You use your
carpals to drive a car. You’ll also learn about the tarsal region, which is near your
toes.

Metacarpal –refers to the region just beyond the carpals or wrist. That’s what
the prefix meta means, beyond!

Palmar – the region of the palm is also called palmar, which is super easy to
remember because it literally has the word palm in it. Infants also have a cool
reflex called the palmar grasp reflex!

Pollex – refers to the thumb. If you like this video above, please give it a pollex
up!

Digital – refers to the finger and toes region. That’s easy to remember because
you use your fingers to type on digital devices, and you can also use your fingers
to click subscribe on our YouTube channel! This region may also be called the
phalangeal region, because the bones of our fingers and toes are called
phalanges.

Lower Limb Regional Terms Anatomy

Finally, we’ve got the lower limb, also called the lower extremity.

Coxal –refers to the lateral side of the hip region. Your hip bones are called os
coxae. Think of how a cowboy cocks a gun on his hip.

Femoral – refers to the thigh region. The bone here is called the femur, which
comes from an old word that means thigh.  You also have a femoral artery. Your
muscles here are called quadriceps femoris. Again, are you seeing how anatomy
is all connected.

Patellar – refers to your knee cap region, where you have a patella bone.

Popliteal – refers to the back of the knee. Your popliteal region bends when you
pop a squat.

Crural – refers to the front area of the leg, between the knee and ankle. You can
remember this because in the game of cricket, they wear pads to protect their
crural region. Cricket, crural.

Sural –refers to the back of the leg. If you can remember that crural is the
anterior region of the leg, then you’ll easily remember that sural is the posterior
region of the leg. The word sural refers to the calf.

Pedal –refers to the entire foot region. This one’s easy because what do you use
to pedal a bicycle or press a gas pedal on a car? You use the pedal region, which
is your foot.

Calcaneal – refers to the back of the heel, and the bone there is called the
calcaneus bone. I sometimes get a callus on the back of my heel. When I think of
the words “callus” and “heel” together, it sounds a lot like calcaneal, which helps
me remember my calcaneal region.

Tarsal – refers to your ankle region. People confuse carpal and tarsal region.
Again, carpals help you drive a car, and your tarsal region is near toes.

Metatarsal – refers to the region beyond the tarsals. Remember, meta means
beyond.

Hallux – refers to the big toe, and you can remember that the hallux helps you
walk down the hall.

Digital – just like the fingers, digital also refers to the toes, so this is easy to
remember.

Plantar – refers to the sole region of the foot. Plantar warts form on the plantar
region of the foot. You don’t want one of those. Also, infants have a cool plantar
grasp reflex as well. Also, there are anatomical movement terms called plantar
flexion and dorsiflexion.

Free Quiz and More Anatomy Videos

Take a free regional terms anatomy quiz to test your knowledge, or review our skin
gland anatomy video. In addition, you might want to watch our anatomy and
physiology lectures on YouTube, or check our anatomy and physiology notes.

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