Latérale

Latérale is the feminine form of the French adjective latéral, meaning side or lateral. It originates from Latin lateralem and is used to describe position, orientation, or relation to the side of a body, object, or structure, as opposed to medial or central.

In anatomy and medicine, latérale designates structures located toward the side of the body or a body part. Examples include les muscles latéraux (lateral muscles), les veines latérales (lateral veins), or les parois latérales (lateral walls). The term participates in concepts such as latéralisation (lateralization), the specialization of certain functions on one side of the body or brain.

In botany and zoology, latérale accompanies terms for side-placed features, such as branches latérales or feuilles latérales, indicating their position relative to the main axis. In linguistics, latéral describes lateral consonants or phonetic features, and in cognitive science the notion of latéralisation is used when discussing handedness or hemispheric dominance for language and other functions.

The word is used across languages as a technical descriptor and is generally interchangeable with its English cognate lateral in many contexts. In French, gender agreement is required: latéral (masc.) and latérale (fem.), plural latéraux or latérales. It is not a standalone concept but a descriptive term that appears in anatomical, biological, linguistic, and technical descriptions.