depressio

Depressio is a Latin noun meaning a pressing down, sinking, or lowering. It is formed from de- “down” and premere “to press” and has been used in classical and medical Latin to denote the act or result of pressing downward. The term is a feminine noun of the third declension; declined in the singular as depressio, depressionis, and in the plural as depressiones, depressionum.

In medical and anatomical contexts, depressio describes the action of depressing a body part or the resulting downward displacement of tissue or an organ. It underpins the English concept of a depressor, a muscle or nerve whose function is to lower a part, such as a depressor muscle acting on the lips or eyelids. In historical or scholarly Latin texts, depressio may be encountered to explain movements or positions that involve downward movement.

In contemporary usage, depressio is rarely employed in English-language medicine or anatomy; the corresponding English terms are depression (for a state of low mood or general downward displacement) and depressor (the agent that causes depression of a part). The Latin word remains primarily of interest for linguistic, historical, or philological discussions of medical terminology, rather than as a standard term in modern clinical practice.

See also: depression, depressor, depressor muscles, anatomical terminology.