sacrum
Americannoun
noun
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(in man) the large wedge-shaped bone, consisting of five fused vertebrae, in the lower part of the back
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the corresponding part in some other vertebrates
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A triangular bone at the base of the spine, above the coccyx (tailbone), that forms the rear section of the pelvis. In humans it is made up of five vertebrae that fuse together by adulthood.
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See more at skeleton
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sacrum
1745–55; < Late Latin ( os ) sacrum holy (bone), translation of Greek hieròn ostéon
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Explanation
The sacrum is the large, triangle-shaped bone at the base of the spine. Many, though not all, animals with a backbone also have a sacrum. In humans, the sacrum sits wedged between the two hip bones, connecting the lowest vertebra of the spine with the tailbone or coccyx. A man's sacrum is slightly different from a woman's: it's taller and narrower, with a larger curve. The word comes from the Latin phrase os sacrum, or "sacred bone," and it was named this way because the large sacrum of animals was often a part of ritual sacrifices in ancient times.
Vocabulary lists containing sacrum
Human Anatomy and Physiology - High School
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sacr, sanc, secr
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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.
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The concept of a Christian “holy war”—a war conferring spiritual benefits—originates in medieval Latin Christianity, with its crusader theology of bellum sacrum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
The fossil at the center of the study is a 22-kilogram Edmontosaurus sacrum, part of the dinosaur's hip region, recovered from South Dakota's famous Hell Creek Formation.
From Science Daily ● May 14, 2026
Lonely Island member Jorma Taccone shattered his pelvis and detached his sacrum after a recent fall from a 20-foot ladder at his farmhouse in Connecticut.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2025
Woods said his sacrum had to be put back in place.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2024
Position: Sitting with legs crossed; pain in and about right knee; stretching arm; tensive drawing from left shoulder up to neck; lifting; tensive drawing in left shoulder; pain in sacrum.
From New, Old, and Forgotten Remedies: Papers by Many Writers by Anshutz, Edward Pollock
With a practised flick, he cuts a strip of bark from the trunk of one of the Boswellia sacra trees.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2010
Most of the Boswellia sacra trees grow on public land, but custom dictates that each forest is given to one of the local families to farm, and Wadi Dawkah is his turf.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2010
Warm winters and showery summers are the perfect conditions for the Boswellia sacra tree to produce the sap called frankincense.
From BBC ● Feb. 9, 2010
In front of Triopium is the small island of Telos, whence a single family joined the Lindian colony that founded Gela in Sicily, and earned with it the sacra Triopia.
From The History and Antiquities of the Doric Race, Vol. 1 of 2 by Müller, Karl Otfried
How the auri sacra fames will deprive sane men of sense!
From Romantic Spain A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. I) by O'Shea, John Augustus
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.
