trabecula

[ truh-bek-yuh-luh ]

/ trəˈbɛk yə lə /

noun, plural tra·bec·u·lae [truh-bek-yuh-lee] /trəˈbɛk yəˌli/.

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

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.

Nearby words

tr., tra, tra-la, trabeate, trabeated, trabecula, trabecular bone, trabecular reticulum, trabeculoplasty, trabeculotomy, trabs

Origin of trabecula

1815–25; < New Latin trabēcula, Latin: little beam, equivalent to trabē(s) beam + -cula -cule¹

Related forms

tra·bec·u·lar, tra·bec·u·late

[truh-bek-yuh-lit, -leyt] /trəˈbɛk yə lɪt, -ˌleɪt/, adjectivein·ter·tra·bec·u·lar, adjective

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

Examples from the Web for trabecular

The trabecular floor of the brain does not long remain simple.
The Origin of Vertebrates|Walter Holbrook Gaskell
The term caries is employed to indicate any diseased process associated with crumbling away of the trabecular framework of a bone.
Manual of Surgery|Alexis Thomson and Alexander Miles
There are also less obvious changes in the density of the shadow and in the arrangement of the trabecular structure of the bones.
Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities--Head--Neck. Sixth Edition.|Alexander Miles

British Dictionary definitions for trabecular

trabecula

/ (trəˈbɛkjʊlə) /

noun plural -lae (-ˌliː) anatomy botany

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

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

Derived Forms

trabecular or trabeculate, adjective

Word Origin for trabecula

C19: via New Latin from Latin: a little beam, from trabs a beam

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medicine definitions for trabecular

trabecula

[ trə-bĕk′yə-lə ]

n. pl. tra•bec•u•lae (-lē′)

Any of the supporting strands of connective tissue projecting into an organ and constituting part of the framework of that organ.

Any of the fine spicules forming a network in cancellous bone.

Related forms

tra•bec′u•lar adj.