Periosteum
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A membrane surrounding a bone.
"Periosteum and endosteum are connective tissue sheaths of bone. […] The periosteum is a layer of connective tissue covering the external surface of a bone. The periosteum may be divided into two components: / a. An outer fibrous layer consists of dense irregular connective tissue. / b. An inner cellular layer consists of osteoprogenitor (osteogenic) cells."
- 2 a dense fibrous membrane covering the surface of bones (except at their extremities) and serving as an attachment for tendons and muscles; contains nerves and blood vessels that nourish the enclosed bone wordnet
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Periosteum and endosteum are connective tissue sheaths of bone. […] The periosteum is a layer of connective tissue covering the external surface of a bone. The periosteum may be divided into two components: / a. An outer fibrous layer consists of dense irregular connective tissue. / b. An inner cellular layer consists of osteoprogenitor (osteogenic) cells."
Etymology
From Ancient Greek περί (perí, “about, around”) + ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.