Anatomical Positional Terminology

Superior

Higher than… EX: The head is BLANK to the knee

Inferior

Lower than… EX: The knee is BLANK to the head

Cranial/Cephalic

Towards the head

EX: The neck is cephalic to the umbilicus

Caudal

Toward the tail

EX: Hips are caudal to the waist

Proximal

Towards an attached base

EX: The shoulder is proximal to the wrist

Distal

Away from an attached base

EX: The fingers are distal to the wrist

Anterior (Ventral)

The Abdominal side (front side)

EX: the umbilicus is on the anterior surface of the trunk

Posterior (Dorsal)

The back side

EX: The scapula is located posterior to the rib cage

Medial

Toward the midline

EX: The nose is medial of the ears

Lateral

Away from the midline

EX: The eyes are lateral of the mouth

Contralateral

Pertaining to the other side

EX: The right knee is contralateral of the left foot

Ipsilateral

Pertaining to the same side

EX: The right wrist is ipsilateral to the right elbow

Superficial

At, near, or relatively close to the body surface

EX: The skin is superficial to muscles

Deep

Towards the interior of the body

EX: The bone of the thigh is deep to upper leg muscles

Visceral

A serous membrane covering the outer surface of an organ

EX: Visceral Pleura (Membrane lining the lungs)

Parietal

A serous membrane lining the cavity

EX: Parietal Pleura (Lining the pleural cavity)

Transverse

A section that separates the body into superior and inferior segments (cutting in half horizontally)

Coronal

A section that separates the body into anterior and posterior segments

(Cutting the body like cutting a baguette for sandwich)

Sagittal

A section that separates the body into right and left halves

Midsagittal

Perfect split in half

Parasagittal

Not perfect split, could favor one side and has a large variety in how to split the body