suppine

Suppine is a rarely used term that may refer to an archaic orthography of the English adjective supine. In contemporary English, supine is the standard form meaning lying on the back. The word is commonly used in anatomy, medicine, and biology to describe body position, as in the supine position, where the person lies on their back with the face directed upward. The opposite is prone, where the person lies face down. Supine derives from Latin supinus, meaning lying on the back. Spelling variants such as suppine appear in older texts, but are generally considered obsolete or incorrect in modern usage.

In medical contexts, the supine position is chosen for various procedures such as abdominal surgery, chest radiography, and certain imaging studies, while the prone or lateral decubitus positions are used for others. In obstetrics, prolonged supine positioning in late pregnancy has been associated with hemodynamic changes and is often avoided in favor of alternatives like the left lateral tilt to mitigate symptoms such as supine hypotension syndrome.

Other potential uses of the term in modern language are limited; there is no established field, species, or theory known as Suppine. If encountered in a historical or unfamiliar text, it is most likely a misspelling or archaic variant of supine. For clarity, contemporary references prefer the standard form supine when describing the position or posture.