platysma

[ pluh-tiz-muh ]

/ pləˈtɪz mə /

noun, plural pla·tys·mas, pla·tys·ma·ta [pluh-tiz-muh-tuh] /pləˈtɪz mə tə/, Anatomy.

a broad, thin muscle on each side of the neck, extending from the upper part of the shoulder to the corner of the mouth, the action of which wrinkles the skin of the neck and depresses the corner of the mouth.

Words nearby platysma

platypellic pelvis, platypnea, platypod, platypus, platyrrhine, platysma, platyspondylia, plaudit, plauen, plausible, plausive

Origin of platysma

1685–95; < New Latin < Greek plátysma a plate, literally, something wide and flat, equivalent to platý(nein) to widen (derivative of platýs; see platy-) + -sma, variant of -ma resultative suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for platysma

On cutting through the skin and platysma some small veins may be met with: they should be clamped with forceps and divided.
A System of Operative Surgery, Volume IV (of 4)|Various
He then voluntarily shuddered, as he had done on former occasions, but the platysma was not then affected.
The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals|Charles Darwin
If so, perhaps the platysma could be observed in such cases.
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume II (of II)|Charles Darwin
The Professor tells me there is a muscular slip, a dependence of the platysma myoides, which is called the risorius Santorini.
The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table|Oliver Wendell Holmes

In all cases the contraction of the platysma causes the wound to gape widely, and its edges tend to be turned in.
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities--Head--Neck. Sixth Edition.|Alexander Miles

Medicine definitions for platysma

platysma

[ plə-tĭz′mə ]

n. pl. pla•tys•mas

A platelike muscle in the neck extending to the lower face with origin from the subcutaneous layer and fascia covering the greater pectoral and deltoid muscles at the level of the first or second rib, with insertion to the mandible, the risorius muscle and platysma of the opposite side, with nerve supply from a branch of the facial nerve, and whose action depresses the lower lip and wrinkles the skin of the neck and the upper chest.