cartilage

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French cartilage, from Latin cartilāgō. Partially displaced native gristle, from Old English gristel.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑː.tɪl.ɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈkɑːt.lɪd͡ʒ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑɹ.təl.ɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈkɑɹt.lɪd͡ʒ/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

Noun

cartilage (countable and uncountable, plural cartilages)

1. (anatomy, uncountable) A usually translucent and somewhat elastic, dense, nonvascular connective tissue found in various forms in the larynx and respiratory tract, in structures such as the external ear, and in the articulating surfaces of joints. It composes most of the skeleton of vertebrate embryos, being replaced by bone during ossification in the higher vertebrates.

   Synonym: gristle

2. (anatomy, countable) A particular structure made of cartilage.

Derived terms

• articular cartilage
• arytenoid cartilage
• cartilage-hair hypoplasia
• cartilaginoid
• cartilaginous
• cartilogenesis
• costal cartilage
• cricoid cartilage
• greater alar cartilage
• hyaline cartilage
• thyroid cartilage

 

Translations

elastic tissue

• Afrikaans: kraakbeen
• Albanian: kërc m
• Arabic: غُضْرُوف (ar) m (ḡuḍrūf)
• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܚܣܚܘܣܐ m (ḥasḥūsā), ܟܘܣܟܣܐ m (kūskāsā), ܟܬܟܘܬܐ f (kaṯkūṯā)

• Armenian: աճառ (hy) (ačaṙ), կռճիկ (hy) (kṙčik)
• Asturian: cartílagu (ast) m
• Avar: цӏил (cʼil)
• Azerbaijani: qığırdaq
• Bashkir: кимерсәк (kimersək)
• Basque: kurruska
• Belarusian: храсто́к m (xrastók), храшч m (xrašč)
• Bengali: উপাস্থি (bn) (upasthi), কোমলাস্থি (kōmolasthi)
• Bulgarian: хрущя́л (bg) m (hruštjál)
• Burmese: အရိုးနု (a.rui:nu.)
• Catalan: cartílag (ca) m
• Chechen: чохчам (čoxčam)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 軟骨／软骨 (jyun⁵ gwat¹)

  Hokkien: 軟骨／软骨 (zh-min-nan) (nńg-kut)

  Mandarin: 軟骨／软骨 (zh) (ruǎngǔ)

• Chuvash: кӑмӑрчак (kămărč̬ak)
• Czech: chrupavka (cs) f
• Danish: brusk c
• Dutch: kraakbeen (nl) n
• Esperanto: kartilago
• Estonian: kõhr
• Faroese: brósk n
• Finnish: rusto (fi), rustokudos (fi)
• French: cartilage (fr) m
• Galician: cartilaxe (gl) f
• Georgian: ხრტილი (xrṭili)
• German: Knorpel (de) m
• Greek: χόνδρος (el) m (chóndros)

  Ancient: χόνδρος m (khóndros)

• Gujarati: કાસ્થિ (kāsthi), કુમળું હાડકું (kumaḷũ hāḍkũ), કૂણું હાડકું (kūṇũ hāḍkũ)
• Haitian Creole: katilaj
• Hebrew: סְחוּס (he) m (skhus)
• Hindi: उपास्थि f (upāsthi), कार्टिलेज (kārṭilej)
• Hungarian: porc (hu)
• Icelandic: brjósk (is) n
• Ido: kartilago (io)
• Indonesian: tulang rawan (id), rawan (id)
• Irish: loingeán
• Italian: cartilagine (it) f
• Japanese: 軟骨 (ja) (なんこつ, nankotsu)
• Kazakh: шеміршек (şemırşek), шеміршек ұлпасы (şemırşek ūlpasy)
• Khmer: ឆ្អឹងខ្ចី (chʼəng khcəy)
• Korean: 연골(軟骨) (ko) (yeon'gol)
• Kumyk: гемик (gemik)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kirkirag f, qirtik (ku)

• Kyrgyz: кемирчек (kemircek)
• Lao: ດູກອ່ອນ (dūk ʼǭn), ກະດູກອ່ອນ (ka dūk ʼǭn)
• Latin: cartilāgō f
• Latvian: skrimslis (lv) m
• Lithuanian: kremzlė f
• Macedonian: ’рскавица f (’rskavica)
• Malay: rawan
• Maltese: qarquċa f
• Maori: pakaua, wheuangohe
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: мөгөөрс (mn) (mögöörs)

• Navajo: ooshgę́ę́zh
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: brusk (no) m

  Nynorsk: brusk m

• Occitan: cartilage
• Old English: gristel m
• Old Norse: brjósk n
• Pashto: غضروف m (ǧazruf)
• Persian: غُضروف (fa) (ğozruf), کُرجَن (fa) (korjan)
• Plautdietsch: Gnurpel n
• Polish: chrząstka (pl) f
• Portuguese: cartilagem (pt) f
• Quechua: k'apa
• Romanian: cartilaj (ro) n
• Russian: хрящ (ru) m (xrjašč)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: хр̏скавица f

  Roman: hȑskavica (sh) f

• Sinhalese: කීකසය (kīkasaya), කෝමලාස්ථි (kōmalāsthi)
• Slovak: chrupka (sk) f, chrupavka f
• Slovene: hrustanec (sl) m
• Southern Altai: кеемик (keemik), кемирчек (kemirček)
• Spanish: cartílago (es) m
• Swahili: gegedu
• Swedish: brosk (sv) n
• Tagalog: kartilago, malabuto
• Tajik: тағояк (taġoyak), ғузруф (ġuzruf), ^{(please verify)} шағал (tg) (šaġal)
• Tatar: кимерчәк (tt) (kimerçäk)
• Thai: กระดูกอ่อน (th) (grà-dùuk-ɔ̀ɔn)
• Turkish: kıkırdak (tr)
• Turkmen: gemirçek
• Ukrainian: хрящ m (xrjašč)
• Urdu: کُر کُرّی ہَڈّی (kur kurrī haḍḍī), کُرّی f (kurrī), غُضْروف (ġuzrūf), غَضْروف (ġazrūf), اُپاسْتی f (upāsti), کارْٹِلیج (kārṭilej)
• Uyghur: كۆمۈرچەك (kömürchek)
• Uzbek: kemirchak (uz), togʻay (uz)
• Vietnamese: sụn (vi)
• Volapük: kartilag
• Walloon: tinroxh (wa) m, tinroxhea m, gruzion (wa) m, gruziant (wa) m
• Yakut: өҥүргэс (öñürges)
• Yiddish: ווייכביין m (veykhbeyn)

References

• “cartilage”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cartilage”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cartilāgō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaʁ.ti.laʒ/

Noun

cartilage m (uncountable)

1. (anatomy) cartilage

Further reading

• “cartilage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• glacerait

Old French

Etymology

First known attestation 1377-1377, borrowed from Latin cartilāgō.

Noun

cartilage oblique singular, m (oblique plural cartilages, nominative singular cartilages, nominative plural cartilage)

1. (anatomy) cartilage
   • 1377, Bernard de Gordon, Fleur de lis de medecine (a.k.a. lilium medicine):

     corrosion qui est du cartilage qui est entre les trous des nazilles

     corrosion which is of the cartilage between the wholes in the nostrils