tvärrsnitt

Tvärsnitt is the standard Swedish term for a cross-section, the view of an object as if it has been cut by a plane perpendicular to its long axis. This perspective exposes internal features that are not visible from the outside. A variant spelling sometimes appears in nonstandard texts, but tvärsnitt is the preferred form in contemporary usage.

Etymology and scope: The word combines tvär- (across or crosswise) with snitt (cut). Tvärsnitt is a general concept used across disciplines to reveal internal structure, as opposed to längsnitt, a longitudinal section along the length of an object.

Applications: In medicine and anatomy, tvärsnitt describes transverse slices of tissues and organs. Modern imaging technologies such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) produce many cross-sectional images that are interpreted as tvärsnitt through the body. In geology and archaeology, tvärsnitt shows the arrangement of layers, strata, or artifacts within a specimen or site. In architecture and engineering, cross-section drawings illustrate internal features of buildings, components, and systems. In biology, tvärsnitt is used to study structures in stems, roots, and other organs.

Methods: Tvärsnitt can be obtained by physically slicing a specimen with a microtome or saw, or non-destructively by imaging techniques that reconstruct virtual cross-sections from a series of images. The orientation of the cut is described relative to the object’s axes, with tvärsnitt indicating a transverse plane and längsnitt indicating a longitudinal plane.

See also: Cross-section, longitudinal section, sectional drawing, tomography.