commissure
English edit
Etymology edit
From Latin commissura (“a joining or connecting together”), from commissus (passive perfect participle of committo (“I join, I connect”)) + -ura.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɒm.ɪs.jʊə/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɑm.əˌʃʊɹ/
Noun edit
commissure (plural commissures)
- (anatomy) The joint between two bones.
- 1734, William Stukeley, Of the Gout, J. Roberts, page 14:
- ...that round about the commissure of all our joints...
- (neuroanatomy) A band of nerve tissue connecting the hemispheres of the brain, the two sides of the spinal cord, etc.
- (anatomy) The line where the upper and lower lips or eyelids meet.
- 1884, Elliott Coues, “§ 4.—An Introduction to the Anatomy of Birds.”, in Key to North American Birds. […], 2nd edition, Boston, Mass.: Estes and Lauriat, →OCLC, part II (General Ornithology), page 180:
- There is a third inner eyelid, highly developed and of beautiful mechanism: this is the nictitating membrane, or "winker" (nictito, I wink), a delicate, elastic, translucent, pearly-white fold of the conjunctiva. While the other lids move vertically and have a horizontal commissure, the winker sweeps horizontally or obliquely across the ball, from the side next the beak to the opposite.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
point where the upper and lower lips or eyelids join
References edit
- “commissure”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “commissure”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
French edit
Etymology edit
Learned borrowing from Latin commissūra.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
commissure f (plural commissures)
- commissure
- la commissure des lèvres ― the corner of the mouth
Further reading edit
- “commissure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Italian edit
Noun edit
commissure f
- plural of commissura
Latin edit
Participle edit
commissūre