Colloquial Variant guide

anatomy

noun · 11 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • ənăt'-ə-m ē
  • Australian, General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /əˈnætəmi/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • British, Southern, Standard: /əˈnatəmɪj/
  • Scotland: /əˈnatəme/
  • Scotland: /-mɪ/
  • Scotland: /-mi/
  • New-Zealand: /əˈnɛtəmi/
  • CMU ARPABET: AH0 N AE1 T AH0 M IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

The science that deals with the form and structure of organic bodies; anatomical structure or organization.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Animal anatomy is also called zootomy; vegetable anatomy, phytotomy; and human anatomy, anthropotomy.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The study of the parts of any organized body, to discover their situation, structure, and economy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The physical or functional organization of an organism, or part of it.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • I went to the Venice beach body-building competition and noticed the competitor from Athens, and let me tell you, that's what I call classic Greek anatomy.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

A treatise or book on anatomy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

The form of an individual.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: colloquial, countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

The human body, especially in reference to the genitals.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, euphemistic, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

A skeleton or other dead body.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

The act of dividing anything, corporeal or intellectual, for the purpose of examining its parts.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: broadly, countable, uncountable

Examples

  • the anatomy of a discourse
  • the anatomy of love
  • Burton's famous treatise, "The Anatomy of Melancholy"

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: analysis

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

a detailed analysis

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he studied the anatomy of crimes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: analysis

10

noun

Meaning 10

alternative names for the body of a human being

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • Leonardo studied the human body
  • he has a strong physique
  • the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: human body, physical body, material body, soma, build, figure, physique, shape, bod, chassis, frame, form, flesh

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: body, organic structure, physical structure

Narrower terms: person, juvenile body, adult body, male body, female body

11

noun

Meaning 11

the branch of morphology that deals with the structure of animals

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: general anatomy

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: morphology

Narrower terms: clinical anatomy, applied anatomy, comparative anatomy, developmental anatomy, functional anatomy, physiological anatomy, morphophysiology, gross anatomy, macroscopic anatomy, microscopic anatomy, neuroanatomy, osteology, regional anatomy, topographic anatomy, topology

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h2en- Proto-Hellenic *aná Ancient Greek ᾰ̓νᾰ́ (ănắ) Ancient Greek ἀνα- (ana-) Proto-Indo-European *temh1- Proto-Indo-European *-né- Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō) Ancient Greek ἀνατέμνω (anatémnō) Proto-Indo-European *-h2 Proto-Indo-European *-éh2 Ancient Greek -ᾱ (-ā) Ancient Greek -η (-ē) Ancient Greek ἀνατομή (anatomḗ) Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Latin anatomiader. Old French anatomiebor. Middle English anatomie English anatomy From Middle English anatomie, from Old French anatomie, from Latin anatomia, from Ancient Greek ἀνατομή (anatomḗ, “dissection”, literally “cutting up”), from ἀνα- (ana-, “up”) + τέμνω (témnō, “to cut, incise”). By surface analysis, ana- + -tomy. Doublet of ottomy.

Across languages

Translations

68 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: anatomie — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Arabic: تَشْرِيح (tašrīḥ) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Armenian: անատոմիա (anatomia) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Armenian: կազմախոսություն (kazmaxosutʻyun) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Azerbaijani: anatomiya — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Basque: anatomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Burmese: ခန္ဓာဗေဒ (hkandhabeda.) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Catalan: anatomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Chinese Mandarin: 解剖學 /解剖学 (jiěpōuxué) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Chinese Mandarin: 解剖 (jiěpōu) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Czech: anatomie — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Danish: anatomi — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Dutch: anatomie — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Esperanto: anatomio — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Estonian: anatoomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Faroese: kropsbygnaður — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Faroese: kropsbygnaðarfrøði — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Finnish: anatomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • French: anatomie — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Georgian: ანატომია (anaṭomia) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • German: Anatomie — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Greek: ανατομία (anatomía) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Gujarati: શરીરરચનાશાસ્ત્ર (śarīrracnāśāstra) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Hebrew: אנטומיה — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Hindi: शारीरिकी (śārīrikī) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Hungarian: anatómia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Hungarian: bonctan — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Icelandic: líffærafræði — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Indonesian: anatomi — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Irish: anatamaíocht — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Italian: anatomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Japanese: 解剖学 (kaibōgaku) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Japanese: 解剖 (kaibō) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Khmer: កាយវិភាគសាស្ត្រ (kay vi pheak sass) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Korean: 해부학 (haebuhak) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Korean: 해부 (haebu) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Central Kurdish: توێکاری (twêkarî) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Latin: anatomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Latvian: anatomija — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Lithuanian: anatomija — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Malay: anatomi — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Malay: kaji bina tubuh — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Māori: mātai tinana — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Norwegian Bokmål: anatomi — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: anatomi — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Persian: کالبدشناسی (kâlbod-šenâsi) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Persian: آناتومی (ânâtomi) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Polish: anatomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Portuguese: anatomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Romanian: anatomie — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Russian: анатомирова́ние (anatomirovánije) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Russian: анато́мия (anatómija) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Samogitian: anatuomėjė — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Serbo-Croatian: анато̀мија — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Serbo-Croatian: anatòmija — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Slovak: anatómia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Spanish: anatomía — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Swahili: anatomia — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Swedish: anatomi — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Tagalog: anatomiya — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Tamil: உடற்கூற்றியல் (uṭaṟkūṟṟiyal) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Thai: กายวิภาคศาสตร์ (gaai-yá-wí-pâak-ká-sàat) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Turkish: anatomi — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Turkish: yapıbilim — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Ukrainian: анато́мія (anatómija) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Uyghur: ئاناتومىيە (anatomiye) — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Vietnamese: giải phẫu học — art of studying the different parts of any organized body
  • Volapük: naatom — art of studying the different parts of any organized body