Definition of cranium in English:
cranium
nounPlural crania, Plural craniums ˈkreɪnɪəmˈkreɪniəm
Anatomy The skull, especially the part enclosing the brain.
Example sentencesExamples
- As the infection spreads in the temporal bone, it may extend into the cranium and result in cranial nerve palsies.
- There were no significant skull fractures and so this really is a case of the brain rattling within the cranium.
- The eye is located within the orbital cavity of the skull between the cranium and the facial skeleton.
- There is also part of another male skull and an immature cranium from a six- or seven-year-old child.
- The bones of the cranium are divided into the skull base and the calvarial vault.
Synonyms
skull, brain case
brain
head
informal brainpan
Origin
Late Middle English: via medieval Latin from Greek kranion 'skull'.
migraine from Late Middle English:
People unfortunate enough to suffer from migraine know that this sort of throbbing headache usually affects one side of the head—reflected in the origin of the word. It is a highly shortened form of Greek hemi- ‘half’ and kranion ‘skull’, the source of English cranium (mid 16th century). Until the 20th century the form megrim, also used for a fit of being difficult, was more common than migraine.
Rhymes
geranium, germanium, Herculaneum, titanium, uranium