femur
Americannoun
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femurs,
plural
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femora
plural
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Anatomy. a bone in the human leg extending from the pelvis to the knee, that is the longest, largest, and strongest in the body; thighbone.
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Zoology. a corresponding bone of the leg or hind limb of an animal.
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Entomology. the third segment of the leg of an insect (counting from the base), situated between the trochanter and the tibia.
noun
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Nontechnical name: thighbone. the longest thickest bone of the human skeleton, articulating with the pelvis above and the knee below
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the corresponding bone in other vertebrates
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the segment of an insect's leg nearest to the body
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of femur
1555–65; < Latin: thigh
Explanation
Your femur is the large bone inside your thigh. The femur is the strongest bone in the human body. In between your knee and hip joints is your femur, the only bone in the upper part of your leg. The femur isn't just strong, but is also the longest of your bones. Four-legged animals have femurs as well. When this word was originally used in English, it was an architectural term. In Latin, femur means "thigh" or "thighbone."
Vocabulary lists containing femur
Human Anatomy and Physiology - High School
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Life Science: Human Anatomy and Physiology
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Human Anatomy and Physiology - Middle School
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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.
See Examples For:
By combining the two simulations, the researchers estimated the total stress experienced by the femur of each species.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
The team recovered teeth, a skull, jaws, and parts of the skeleton, including a femur and an ulna.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 27, 2026
Antonio shattered his femur in four different places after his Ferrari spun off the road and crashed into a tree in Epping Forest during Storm Darragh.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 2026
In his office, where his mayor's chain is displayed alongside a polar bear femur, Terje Aunevik echoed that sentiment.
From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026
The children watch engineers use pulleys to lift a fossilized dinosaur femur.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
Long bones such as ribs or femora are typically used, but they are not always preserved.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 9, 2025
"Upon opening the grave, the skull and femora were found in a 'skull and crossbones' orientation on top of the ribs and vertabrae, which were also found in disarray," the study's authors wrote.
From Fox News ● Aug. 5, 2019
Sometimes the lower part of the hind leg, called the femora, is enlarged too.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 20, 2013
Thorax rugose-striate, the anterior lateral angles dentate, the metathorax without spines; the femora thickly incrassate and greatly attenuated at their base.
From Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology by Various
Thorax: the posterior margin of the prothorax arched; the anterior and intermediate tibiæ and tarsi and the femora at their apex beneath, also the posterior femora, pale ferruginous; the wings subhyaline, the nervures dark fuscous.
From Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 Zoology by Various
The team created digital reconstructions of the femurs of seven sauropod species.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026
His meticulously assembled forest of skulls, femurs, tibiae, and fibulae isn’t sacrilege; it’s a memorial.
From Salon ● Jan. 23, 2026
She said that, because of the rampant theft of some of the femurs, tibias and skulls in the past, the bones were now cemented together.
From Barron's ● Nov. 1, 2025
You can see that he’s a tad lopsided on the left side, presumably because Victor couldn’t find matching femurs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
And Lee carefully packed the bones, femurs, and tibias really straight, skull in the middle, with pelvis and clavicle surrounding it and ribs curving on either side.
From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck
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.
