sternum

/ˈstʌrnəm/

/ˈstʌnəm/

Other forms: sternums

Your sternum is your breastbone, the flat plate at the top of your rib cage. Mammals and birds — and even arachnids, or spiders — have a sternum.

If you study human anatomy, you'll learn that the sternum is a long, flat, T-shaped bone made of fused segments. The rib cage attaches the sternum to the spine, or vertebrae. The word itself comes from the Greek sternon, "chest, breast, or breastbone," from a root that means "flat surface."

Definitions of sternum

1. noun

   the flat bone that articulates with the clavicles and the first seven pairs of ribs
   synonyms: breastbone

   type of:

   bone, os

   rigid connective tissue that makes up the skeleton of vertebrates