Vertebrae

How to spell vertebrae

9 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce vertebrae

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does vertebrae mean?

1. nounThe series of small bones that link together to form the spine.

Vertebrae in a sentence

• The fall cracked two of his lower vertebrae.

• The scan showed the vertebrae in her neck were perfectly aligned.

Where does vertebrae come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the plural of vertebra, which English took directly from Latin in the early 1600s. The Latin vertebra meant 'a joint' or specifically a bone of the spine, and it was built on the verb vertere, meaning 'to turn', because the spine is the column around which the body bends and turns. The same vertere root sits behind a large family of English words, including 'convert', 'reverse', and 'vertigo', all of which carry some sense of turning. Because the word kept its Latin shape, it also kept the Latin plural ending: one vertebra becomes several vertebrae, with the tricky '-ae' rather than an English '-s'. That borrowed plural ending is the main spelling trap, since the word ends in a sound most writers would expect to spell as 'ay' or 'ee'.

How the word is built

• vert- (from Latin vertere: to turn)
• -ebra (Latin noun suffix)
• -ae (Latin plural ending)