anatomy

Noun

anatomy (plural anatomies)

1. The art of dissecting, or artificially separating the different parts of any organized body, to discover their situation, structure, and economy; dissection.
2. The science that deals with the form and structure of organic bodies; anatomical structure or organization.
   • Dryden

   Let the muscles be well inserted and bound together, according to the knowledge of them which is given us by anatomy.

   • Animal anatomy is also called zomy or zootomy; vegetable anatomy, phytotomy; and human anatomy, anthropotomy.

   Comparative anatomy compares the structure of different kinds and classes of animals.

3. A treatise or book on anatomy.
4. The act of dividing anything, corporeal or intellectual, for the purpose of examining its parts; analysis; as, the anatomy of a discourse.
5. (archaic) A skeleton, or dead body.
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, Folio Society 2006, vol. 1 p. 68:

     So did the Ægyptians, who in the middest of their banquetings, and in the full of their greatest cheere, caused the anatomie of a dead man to be brought before them, as a memorandum and warning to their guests.

Derived terms

• comparative anatomy
• gross anatomy

Anatomy (from the Greek ἀνατομία anatomia, from ἀνατέμνειν ana: separate, apart from, and temnein, to cut up, cut open.) is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy (zootomy) and plant anatomy (phytotomy). In some of its facets anatomy is closely related to embryology, comparative anatomy and comparative embryology, through common roots in evolution.

Anatomy is subdivided into gross anatomy (or macroscopic anatomy) and microscopic anatomy. Gross anatomy (also called topographical anatomy, regional anatomy, or anthropotomy) is the study of anatomical structures that can be seen by unaided vision with the naked eye. Microscopic anatomy is the study of minute anatomical structures assisted with microscopes, which includes histology (the study of the organization of tissues), and cytology (the study of cells).

The history of anatomy has been characterized, over time, by a continually developing understanding of the functions of organs and structures in the body. Methods have also improved dramatically, advancing from examination of animals through dissection of cadavers (dead human bodies) to technologically complex techniques developed in the 20th century including X-ray, ultrasound, and MRI imaging.

Anatomy should not be confused with anatomical pathology (also called morbid anatomy or histopathology), which is the study of the gross and microscopic appearances of diseased organs.