What does "quadriceps" mean?

A muscle having four heads, especially the large extensor at the front of the thigh.

What is a synonym for "quadriceps"?

Common synonyms include: musculus quadriceps femoris, quad, quadriceps femoris, quads, quads.

Pronounced //ˈkwɑːd.ɹəˌsɛps//.

//ˈkwɑːd.ɹəˌsɛps// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A muscle having four heads, especially the large extensor at the front of the thigh.
2
a muscle of the thigh that extends the leg wordnet

"The quadriceps is made up of four muscles: the rectus femoris, the vastus medialis, the vastus intermedius and the vastus lateralis."

Borrowed from Latin quadriceps, literally “four-headed”, from quadri- + -ceps, from quattuor (“four”) and from caput (“head”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.