bursa
noun
a pouch, sac, or vesicle, especially a sac containing synovia, to facilitate motion, as between a tendon and a bone.
bursa
1 American
[bur-suh]
/ ˈbɜr sə /
noun
-
bursae,
plural
-
bursas
plural
Bursa
2
American
[boor -sah]
/ burˈsɑ /
noun
bursa
1
British
/ ˈbɜːsə /
noun
-
a small fluid-filled sac that reduces friction between movable parts of the body, esp at joints
-
zoology any saclike cavity or structure
Bursa
2
British
/ ˈbɜːsə /
noun
bursa
Scientific
/ bûr′sə /
-
bursae
plural
bursa
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of bursa
First recorded in 1795–1805; from New Latin, Late Latin bursa “bag, pouch, purse,” from Greek býrsa “hide, leather”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
McVay said a few days later that a bursa sac in Nacua’s knee had burst.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2024
The bursa is a thin, fluid-filled sac originally thought to protect the tendons by providing a cushion between the tendons and adjacent bones.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2024
"Our findings in an animal model indicate that surgeons should not remove the bursa without carefully considering the consequences."
From Science Daily ● Apr. 25, 2024
Small fluid-filled sacs called bursa, which normally cushion the joint, may instead swell and ache.
From New York Times ● Dec. 29, 2022
Sebific duct: carries the excretions of the colleterial gland to the bursa copulatrix.
From Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology by Smith, John. B.
The Bursa Malaysia Derivatives contract for August delivery rose 140 ringgit to 4,675 ringgit a ton.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
The Bursa Malaysia Derivatives contract for August delivery is 8 ringgit lower at 4,478 ringgit a ton.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026
Bursa remains a defensive safe-haven play, with stronger earnings potentially reviving expectations for special dividends, he adds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 4, 2026
Trade unions filled rallies in many cities, from Bursa to Corum.
From BBC ● May 1, 2026
Now, when the village men took silk to market in Bursa, they were free Greeks, in a free Greek city.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Dolphins and other toothed whales, such as the beluga, echolocate via a specialized organ called the dorsal bursae, which sits at the top of their head, close to the blowhole.
From National Geographic ● Feb. 3, 2021
Irradiated chickens with no bursae produced no antibodies when injected with either bovine serum albumin, a protein derived from cattle, or the bacterium Brucella abortus.
From Nature ● Jan. 5, 2015
Subcutaneous bursae prevent friction between the skin and an underlying bone, submuscular bursae protect muscles from rubbing against a bone or another muscle, and a subtendinous bursa prevents friction between bone and a muscle tendon.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
Two bursae, the subacromial bursa and the subscapular bursa, help to prevent friction between the rotator cuff muscle tendons and the scapula as these tendons cross the glenohumeral joint.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 19, 2013
Etiology and Occurrence.—The thecae and bursae of the leg are several in number.
From Lameness of the Horse Veterinary Practitioners' Series, No. 1 by Lacroix, John Victor
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
