4 Directional Terms

Directional Terminology:

Picture that you’ve just arrived in a brand-new town. The streets are bustling, the sights are unfamiliar, and you need to find your way around. What do you do? You pull out your trusty map and use the cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west—to orient yourself and navigate this exciting new place.

In much the same way, navigating the human body requires its own set of directions. Anatomists, like skilled cartographers, have a special vocabulary to guide them through the intricate landscape of our bodies. These terms help them pinpoint locations, describe positions, and chart a course through the marvels of human anatomy.

• Deep: lying closer to the centre of the body or appendage (the heart is deep to the rib cage).
• Superficial: lying farther away from the centre of an object or closer to the skin (the epidermis is superficial to the dermis).
• Superior: referring to upwards or closer to the head end of the body (the brain is superior to the heart).
• Inferior: referring away/lower from the head (the prostate is inferior to the liver).
• Rostral: refers towards the nose (the frontal lobe is rostral to the cerebellum).
• Caudal: similar to inferior but commonly used within reference to the head (the pons are caudal to the thalamus).
• Anterior: closer to the front side of the body (the sternum is anterior to the lungs).
• Posterior: closer to the back side of the body (the vertebra is posterior to the thyroid).
• Lateral: refers to the sides as opposed to the middle part of the body (the lungs are lateral to the vertebra).
• Medial: refers to the middle portion of the body (the chest is medial to the arms).
• Distal: refers to farther down a limb (the hand is distal to the shoulder).
• Proximal: refers to closer to the origin of a limb (the thigh is proximal to the foot).
• Left: leftwards with regards to the specimen’s POV (the heart is left to the midline).
• Right: rightwards with regards to specimen’s POV (the liver is right to the midline).
• Endo: meaning within, often underneath (endometrium lies within the uterus).
• Ecto: meaning outside of something (the ectoderm is the outermost layer of the embryo)
• Exo: also means outside but commonly refers to a sense of movement (exocrine products are produced outside of the gland into a body cavity through ducts)

Take time to review these terms since they will be used continuously throughout your path in anatomy.

Let’s review some directional terms!

Learning Directional Terms