Cranial

Cranial is an anatomical term meaning related to the skull, especially the portion that encloses the brain, the neurocranium. The word derives from Latin cranium meaning skull. In humans and many animals, the skull is composed of the neurocranium and the viscerocranium (facial skeleton). The neurocranium consists of eight bones: frontal; two parietal; two temporal; occipital; sphenoid; and ethmoid. These bones are joined by sutures—coronal, sagittal, lambdoid, and squamous—and, in infants, fontanelles that allow rapid growth of the brain.

The cranial base forms the anterior, middle, and posterior cranial fossae, which cradle the brain and house openings (foramina) for nerves and vessels. The cranial cavity, calvaria, and base together protect neural tissue and support sensory structures while providing attachment sites for jaw, neck, and facial muscles.

In clinical and anatomical contexts, cranial appears in terms such as cranial nerves, cranial cavity, cranial vault, and cranial sutures. Variations in cranial shape or size, craniosynostosis, microcephaly, and trauma are common topics in medicine and anthropology. Embryologically, the skull develops through endochondral and intramembranous ossification, with sutures permitting growth in early life and gradually closing with age.