anatomikos

Anatomikos is the transliteration of the Greek adjective ανατομικός, meaning "anatomical" or "relating to anatomy." It is used in Greek to describe things associated with the structure of the body and is found in medical and scientific terminology when Greek forms are rendered in the Latin alphabet.

In modern Greek, the term inflects for gender: anatomikos (masculine), anatomiki (feminine), and anatomiko (neuter). The root anatomo- derives from anatomy, and the word participates in the same inflection patterns as other Greek adjectives. The related noun for the discipline is ανατομία (anatomia).

Usage in English is limited. Anatomikos itself is not a standard English word; the corresponding English adjective is anatomical. The form may appear in linguistic discussions, transliteration notes, or scholarly works that quote or analyze Greek terms, but it is not commonly used in routine medical or scientific writing in English.

Etymology traces anatomikos to the Greek stem anatome- ( anatomy) plus the adjectival suffix -ikos, a common derivational pattern for describing relations to a field or concept. This pattern also yields related terms in other languages that borrow Greek roots.

See also: Anatomy; Greek language and transliteration; medical terminology.