crural

Crural is a word that you are most likely to encounter in a medical context, where you might, for example, come across a reference to a "crural artery" or "crural nerve." "Crural" comes from Latin cruralis, a combination of "crur-" or "crus" ("leg") and the adjectival suffix -alis (which, like the English suffix -al, means "of, relating to, or characterized by). In the mid-18th century, about 150 years after "crural" entered the English language, English borrowed "crus" itself. "Crus" - pluralized, as in Latin, as "crura" - is used of the leg or hind limb, and specifically of the shank, the part of the leg between the ankle and the thigh. "Crus" is also used more broadly of any anatomical part that resembles a leg or a pair of legs.