anatomy English · revision 15150

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1398|origins=grc τέμνω}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /əˈnæt.ə.mi/, US /əˈnæt̬.ə.mi/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|anatomie]], [[bor|fro|anatomie]] and directly [[la-lat|anatomia]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998) from [[grc|ἀνατομή|tr=anatomḗ|t=dissection]], literally “a cutting up”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|grc|ἀνατέμνω|tr=anatémnō|t=to cut up, dissect]], from [[m|grc|ἀνά|tr=aná|t=up]] and [[m|grc|τέμνω|tr=témnō|t=to cut]] (see [[-tomy]]),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) from [[ine-pro|*tem-|t=to cut]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomew;^(Barnhart 1988) the study of the structure of the human body, learned by dissection, in the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Anatomical structure is from about 1400.^(Etymonline) In Shakespeare's day the main senses were dissection (1540s), a mummy (1580s) and a skeleton (1590s),^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and the science of the structure of bodies became the chief sense from the 17th century.^(Etymonline) Trench notes that older writers used it for the thing dissected and then, once stripped of its flesh, for a skeleton.^(Trench 1859) In that sense it was often cut to atomy, from a misdivision of ''an anatomy''.^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) A model of the body is from 1727–51,^(OED 1989) and anatomist from 1543.^(Barnhart 1988) In dialects throughout Britain and Ireland an anatomy, natomy or atomy was a skeleton or an emaciated person.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1398 – anatomy.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1400 – anatomical structure.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1541 – dissection.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1543 – anatomist.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1594 – a skeleton.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1727–51 – a model of the body.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The physical structure of an animal or plant, or of any of its parts.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The science of the structure of [[organism|alt=organisms]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A book or treatise on this science.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # The [[dissection]] of an animal or plant.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A detailed analysis: ''the anatomy of a crime''.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' The human body.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[anatomically]]

+ * [[neuroanatomy]]

+ * [[anatomical]]

+ * [[anatomise]]

+ * [[anatomize]]

+ * [[anatomist]]

+ * [[anatomically correct]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[atomy]]

+ * [[-tomy]]

+ * [[tome]]

+ * [[atom]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}