parietalis

Parietalis is a Latin adjective meaning “of the wall,” and in anatomical usage it describes structures related to the walls of body cavities or coverings. In modern English, the term is rarely used by itself; instead, the corresponding English forms such as parietal are employed in compound terms.

One common usage is in reference to the skull: the parietal bones (os parietale) are a pair of cranial bones that form part of the roof and sides of the skull. They articulate with neighboring bones such as the frontal, occipital, temporal, and sphenoid bones and meet along the sagittal suture. In neuroanatomy, the largest cortical region underlying the term parietal is the parietal lobe, a major area of the cerebral cortex involved in processing sensory information and spatial orientation (though the Latin form lobus parietalis appears in some texts).

Parietalis also appears in descriptions of anatomical membranes and linings. The parietal peritoneum lines the interior of the abdominal cavity, in contrast to the visceral peritoneum, which covers abdominal organs. In other contexts, older Latinized terms may render various wall-associated structures as parietalis, but modern usage generally favors the English adjective parietal.

Etymology and related terms: parietalis derives from Latin paries, pariet-, meaning “wall.” Related terms include parietal (the English form), parietal bone, parietal lobe, and parietal peritoneum. See also parietal (disambiguation) for additional uses in anatomy and other fields.