trabecula

American  

[truh-bek-yuh-luh] / trəˈbɛk yə lə /

noun

plural

trabeculae

1. Anatomy, Botany. a structural part resembling a small beam or crossbar.

2. Botany. one of the projections from the cell wall that extends across the cavity of the ducts of certain plants, or the plate of cells across the cavity of the sporangium of a moss.

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trabecula British  

/ trəˈbɛkjʊlə /

noun

1. any of various rod-shaped structures that divide organs into separate chambers

2. any of various rod-shaped cells or structures that bridge a cavity, as within the capsule of a moss or across the lumen of a cell

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Other Word Forms

• intertrabecular adjective
• trabecular adjective
• trabeculate adjective

Etymology

Origin of trabecula

1815–25; < New Latin trabēcula, Latin: little beam, equivalent to trabē ( s ) beam + -cula -cule ¹

Example Sentences

The trabeculae may appear to be a random network, but each trabecula forms along lines of stress to provide strength to the bone.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

The medial liver trabecula into which the enteron was seen to open, in the preceding figure, now opens ventrally to the yolk-sac as the anterior intestinal portal.

From Development of the Digestive Canal of the American Alligator by Reese, C. M.

Each node of a trabecula may be simple, i.e. have only one centre of calcification, or may be compound.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 2 "Anjar" to "Apollo" by Various