Fibula

Definition: Fibula

Fibula

Noun

1. The outer and thinner of the two bones of the human leg between the knee and ankle.

Date "fibula" was first used: 1615. (references)

Etymology: Fibula \Fib"u*la\, noun; plural Fibul[AE]. [Latin expression, clasp, buckle.]. (Websters 1913)

Specialty Definitions: Fibula

Domain	Definitions
Health	The bone of the lower leg lateral to and smaller than the tibia. In proportion to its length, it is the most slender of the long bones. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Fibula

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

The fibula (Calf Bone) is a bone placed on the lateral side of the tibia, with which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones, and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is small, placed toward the back of the head of the tibia, below the level of the knee-joint, and excluded from the formation of this joint. Its lower extremity inclines a little forward, so as to be on a plane anterior to that of the upper end; it projects below the tibia, and forms the lateral part of the ankle-joint. The bone has a body and two extremities.

The Upper Extremity or Head

('capitulum fibulœ; proximal extremity') The upper extremity is of an irregular quadrate form, presenting above a flattened articular surface, directed upward, forward, and medialward, for articulation with a corresponding surface on the lateral condyle of the tibia. On the lateral side is a thick and rough prominence continued behind into a pointed eminence, the apex (styloid process), which projects upward from the posterior part of the head. The prominence, at its upper and lateral part, gives attachment to the tendon of the Biceps femoris and to the fibular collateral ligament of the knee-joint, the ligament dividing the tendon into two parts. The remaining part of the circumference of the head is rough, for the attachment of muscles and ligaments. It presents in front a tubercle for the origin of the upper and anterior fibers of the Peronæus longus, and a surface for the attachment of the anterior ligament of the head; and behind, another tubercle, for the attachment of the posterior ligament of the head and the origin of the upper fibers of the Soleus.

The Body or Shaft

('corpus fibulæ') The body presents four borders - the antero-lateral, the antero-medial, the postero-lateral, and the postero-medial; and four surfaces - anterior, posterior, medial, and lateral.

Borders

The antero-lateral border begins above in front of the head, runs vertically downward to a little below the middle of the bone, and then curving somewhat lateralward, bifurcates so as to embrace a triangular subcutaneous surface immediately above the lateral malleolus. This border gives attachment to an intermuscular septum, which separates the Extensor muscles on the anterior surface of the leg from the Peronæi longus and brevis on the lateral surface. The antero-medial border, or interosseous crest, is situated close to the medial side of the preceding, and runs nearly parallel with it in the upper third of its extent, but diverges from it in the lower two-thirds. It begins above just beneath the head of the bone (sometimes it is quite indistinct for about 2.5 cm. below the head), and ends at the apex of a rough triangular surface immediately above the articular facet of the lateral malleolus. It serves for the attachment of the interosseous membrane, which separates the Extensor muscles in front from the Flexor muscles behind. The postero-lateral border is prominent; it begins above at the apex, and ends below in the posterior border of the lateral malleolus. It is directed lateralward above, backward in the middle of its course, backward, and a little medialward below, and gives attachment to an aponeurosis which separates the Peronæi on the lateral surface from the Flexor muscles on the posterior surface. The postero-medial border, sometimes called the oblique line, begins above at the medial side of the head, and ends by becoming continuous with the interosseous crest at the lower fourth of the bone. It is well-marked and prominent at the upper and middle parts of the bone. It gives attachment to an aponeurosis which separates the Tibialis posterior from the Soleus and Flexor hallucis longus.

Figure 1 : Lower extremity of right fibula. Medial aspect.
Figure 2 : Plan of ossification of the fibula. From three centers.

Surfaces

The anterior surface is the interval between the antero-lateral and antero-medial borders. It is extremely narrow and flat in the upper third of its extent; broader and grooved longitudinally in its lower third; it serves for the origin of three muscles: the Extensor digitorum longus, Extensor hallucis longus, and Peronæus tertius. The posterior surface is the space included between the postero-lateral and the postero-medial borders; it is continuous below with the triangular area above the articular surface of the lateral malleolus; it is directed backward above, backward and medialward at its middle, directly medialward below. Its upper third is rough, for the origin of the Soleus; its lower part presents a triangular surface, connected to the tibia by a strong interosseous ligament; the intervening part of the surface is covered by the fibers of origin of the Flexor hallucis longus. Near the middle of this surface is the nutrient foramen, which is directed downward. The medial surface is the interval included between the antero-medial and the postero-medial borders. It is grooved for the origin of the Tibialis posterior. The lateral surface is the space between the antero-lateral and postero-lateral borders. It is broad, and often deeply grooved; it is directed lateralward in the upper two-thirds of its course, backward in the lower third, where it is continuous with the posterior border of the lateral malleolus. This surface gives origin to the Peronæi longus and brevis.

The Lower Extremity or Lateral Malleolus

('malleolus lateralis; distal extremity; external malleolus') The lower extremity is of a pyramidal form, and somewhat flattened from side to side; it descends to a lower level than the medial malleolus. The lateral surface is convex, subcutaneous, and continuous with the triangular, subcutaneous surface on the lateral side of the body. The medial surface [Fig. 1] presents in front a smooth triangular surface, convex from above downward, which articulates with a corresponding surface on the lateral side of the talus. Behind and beneath the articular surface is a rough depression, which gives attachment to the posterior talofibular ligament. The anterior border is thick and rough, and marked below by a depression for the attachment of the anterior talofibular ligament. The posterior border is broad and presents the shallow malleolar sulcus, for the passage of the tendons of the Peronæi longus and brevis. The summit is rounded, and give attachment to the clacaneofibular ligament.

Ossification

The fibula is ossified from three centers [Fig. 2]: one for the body, and one for either end. Ossification begins in the body about the eighth week of fetal life, and extends toward the extremities. At birth the ends are cartilaginous. Ossification commences in the lower end in the second year, and in the upper about the fourth year. The lower epiphysis, the first to ossify, unites with the body about the twentieth year; the upper epiphysis joins about the twenty-fifth year.

Figure 3 : Left calcaneus, superior surface.
Figure 4 : Left calcaneus, inferior surface.

This article is based on an entry from the 1918 edition of Gray's Anatomy, which is in the public domain. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Fibula."

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Synonym: Fibula

Synonym: calf bone (n). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Fibula

English words defined with "fibula": ankle, ankle joint, articulatio genus, articulatio talocruralis ♦ Epipodiale ♦ FibulAe, Fibu-lar, Fibulare ♦ genu ♦ knee, knee joint ♦ Malleolus, mortise joint ♦ peroneal, Pott's fracture. (references)

Specialty definitions using "fibula": compression of the external popliteal nerve ♦ Fractures, Stress ♦ tailor's ankle. (references)

Etymologies containing "fibula": fipple ♦ Infibulation ♦ Peroneal. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Fibula" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Czech (fibula), Italian (fibula), Latin (brooch, buckle, clasp, fibula), Serbo-Croatian (fibula), Turkish (fibula).

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Commercial Usage: Fibula

Domain	Title
Books	Tibia and Fibula (Musculoskeletal Trauma Series) (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Fibula

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Usage Frequency: Fibula

"Fibula" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Fibula" is used about 9 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	100%	9	117,287

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Fibula

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day
fibula	111
fibula fracture	21
broken fibula	16
tibia and fibula	12
fibula fracture tibia	7
fibula fractured	7
fibula fracture spiral	4
fibula bone	4
fibula fracture stress	4
distal fibula fracture	3
fibula jewelry	3
distal fibula	3
broken fibula tibia	2
broken fibula picture rayed x	2
fibula travel	2
fibula roman	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Fibula

Language		Translations for "fibula"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		kërci (femur, shank, shin). (various references)

Arabic		‏مشبك (brace, buckle, clasp, clip, fastener, paper clip, pin), ‏إبزيم (buckle, clasp, fastening). (various references)

Bulgarian		фибула (splint), малък пищял, брошка (brooch, clasp-pin, clip, ouch). (various references)

Chinese		�"骨 (FibulAE, Peroneal). (various references)

Czech		fibula. (various references)

French		fibulae, péroné. (various references)

German		Fibel (ABC book, first reader, primer, reader, spelling book). (various references)

Greek		περόνη τησ κνήμησ. (various references)

Hungarian		szárkapocscsont, melltû (brooch). (various references)

Italian		fibula, perone. (various references)

Japanese Kanji		�"骨 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ひ�"つ. (various references)

Korean		비골 (FibulAE). (various references)

Manx		fibbyl (splint-bone), craue keyl ny lurgey. (various references)

Pig Latin		ibulafay

Portuguese		fibroso (desmoid, fibred, fibril, fibrous, Filbert, sinewy, stringy, thready), fíbula (safety pin). (various references)

Romanian		peroneu. (various references)

Russian		фибула. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		fibula. (various references)

Spanish		fíbula, peroné (splintbone, splinterbone). (various references)

Swedish		vadben (calf of the leg, splint bone). (various references)

Thai		กระ�"ูกน่อง. (various references)

Turkish		fibula, toka (bobby pin, buckle, clasp, clip, fastener, grip, hairgrip, handshake, hasp, ouch, slide), kamış kemiği, broş (brooch, ouch, pin). (various references)

Ukranian		фібула, застібка (chape, clasp, fastener, hasp, placket, snap). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Fibula

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	fibula. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Fibula

Derivations
	Words beginning with "fibula": fibulae, fibular, fibulas. (additional references)
	Words ending with "fibula": tibiofibula. (additional references)
	Words containing "fibula": infibulate, infibulated, infibulates, infibulating, infibulation, infibulations, tibiofibulae, tibiofibulas. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Fibula" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Dibela, fabula, fabular, Faipule, fibble, fibila, fibu, fibule, Ficulle, fidula, Fiuza, fubula, Hisbul, Qibla. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Fibula"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "fibula" (pronounced fi"byulu)
5	-b y u l u	nebula.
4	-y u l u	curricula, diverticula, formula, scapula.
3	-u l u	gondola, hyperbola, parabola, peninsula.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Fibula

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-f-i-l-u"
	-2 letters: alif, bail, fail, fila, flab, flub.
	-3 letters: ail, alb, bal, fib, fil, flu, fub, lab, lib.
	-4 letters: ab, ai, al, ba, bi, fa, if, la, li.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-f-i-l-u"
	+1 letter: fabliau, fibulae, fibular, fibulas.
	+2 letters: basinful, fabliaux, fabulist.
	+3 letters: basinfuls, beautiful, bisulfate, fabulists, subfamily, unifiable.
	+4 letters: bisulfates, buffaloing, fabulistic, floribunda, infibulate, outfabling, unfeasible, unfindable.
	+5 letters: beautifuler, beautifully, buffalofish, bullmastiff, floribundas, funambulism, funambulist, infibulated, infibulates, infundibula, irrefutable, irrefutably, justifiable, justifiably, qualifiable, subclassify, subfamilies, tibiofibula, unbeautiful, undefinable.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.