carpus

carpus

1. the technical name for wrist

2. the eight small bones of the human wrist that form the joint between the arm and the hand

3. the corresponding joint in other tetrapod vertebrates

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Carpus

 

part of the upper (anterior) pentadactyl extremity of vertebrates, located between the forearm and the metacarpus.

In man, the carpus consists of two rows of small bones connected by intercarpal joints. The first row is made up of the scaphoid, lunate, triquetrous, and pisiform bones, which (except the pisiform) are linked to the radius (radiocarpal joint). The second row, consisting of the larger and smaller multangular, capitate, and unciform bones, is linked to the metacarpal bones (carpometacarpal joint). The carpus increases the mobility of the hand.

In animals, the carpus is the base of the front paw and is located between the antibrachium and the metacarpus.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

carpus

[′kär·pəs]

(anatomy)

The wrist in humans or the corresponding part in other vertebrates.

The eight bones of the human wrist.

(invertebrate zoology)

The fifth segment from the base of a generalized crustacean appendage.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.