Standard Lemma guide

popliteal

adj · 2 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.

  • UK: /pɒˈplɪtɪ.əl/
  • UK: /ˌpɒplɪˈtiːəl/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːəl

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or pertaining to the popliteus (the area behind the knee).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective

Meaning 2

of or relating to the area behind the knee joint

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Late Latin popliteus (from Latin poples (“ham, knee”)) + -al.

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Dutch: wade — area behind the knee
  • Finnish: polvitaive- — area behind the knee
  • Finnish: polvitaipeen — area behind the knee
  • French: poplité — area behind the knee
  • Greek: ιγνυακός (ignyakós) — area behind the knee
  • Italian: popliteo — area behind the knee
  • Japanese: 膝窩 (shikka) — area behind the knee
  • Polish: podkolanowy — area behind the knee
  • Russian: подколенный (podkolennyj) — area behind the knee
  • Spanish: poplíteo — area behind the knee
  • Swedish: knävecks- — area behind the knee
  • Tagalog: alakalakanin — area behind the knee
  • Tamil: குழிச்சிரை (kuḻiccirai) — area behind the knee