ligament

English

Etymology

From Middle English ligament, from Latin ligāmentum, from ligō (“tie, bind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɪɡəmənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

ligament (plural ligaments)

1. (anatomy) A band of strong tissue that connects bones to other bones.
   • 1846, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Christmas Banquet”, in Mosses from an Old Manse:

     It so chanced that at this juncture the decayed ligaments of the skeleton gave way, and the dry bones fell together in a heap, thus causing the dusty wreath of cypress to drop upon the table.

2. (figurative) That which binds or acts as a ligament.
   • 1795 July, Alexander Hamilton, “The Defence of the Funding System”, in Harold C. Syrett, editor, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton‎^[1], volume 19, New York: Columbia University Press, published 1973, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 40:

     It remains to mention one consideration which naturally occurred in the reflections upon the expediency of assuming the State Debts. This is its tendency to strengthen our infant Government by increasing the number of ligaments between the Government and the interests of Individuals.

   • 1845, Daniel Webster, oration on Justice Joseph Story

     Justice is the ligament which holds civilized beings and civilized nations together.

Derived terms

• acrocoracohumeral ligament
• anterolateral ligament
• broad ligament
• capsular ligament
• cruciate ligament
• falciform ligament
• Hensing's ligament
• inguinal ligament
• lienophrenic ligament
• ligamental
• ligamentary
• ligamentous
• Lisfranc ligament
• medial collateral ligament
• oblique ligament
• ovarian ligament
• patellar ligament
• phrenicolienal ligament
• phrenicosplenic ligament
• Poupart's ligament
• round ligament
• spring ligament
• stylohyoid ligament
• suspensory ligament
• uterosacral ligament

 

Translations

band of strong tissue that holds the bones of an animal in position

• Albanian: ligament m
• Arabic: رِبَاط‎ (ar) m (ribāṭ)

  Egyptian Arabic: رباط‎ m (rubāṭ)

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Azerbaijani: bağ (az)
• Basque: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: звя́зка f (zvjázka)
• Bengali: লিগামেন্ট (ligamenṭo)
• Bulgarian: сухожи́лие (bg) n (suhožílie), лигаме́нт m (ligamént)
• Burmese: အရွတ် (my) (a.rwat)
• Catalan: lligament (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 韌帶／韧带 (zh) (rèndài)

• Czech: vaz (cs) m
• Danish: ledbånd n
• Dutch: ligament (nl) n
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: side (et)
• Finnish: nivelside (fi)
• French: ligament (fr) m
• Georgian: კავშირი (ḳavširi), მყესი (mq̇esi)
• German: Band (de) n, Ligament (de) n
• Gothic: 𐌲𐌰𐍅𐌹𐍃𐍃 f (gawiss)
• Greek: σύνδεσμος (el) m (sýndesmos)
• Gujarati: અસ્થિબંધન (asthibandhan)
• Haitian Creole: ligaman
• Hebrew: רְצוּעָה‎ (he) f (retsu'á)
• Hindi: स्नायु (hi) m (snāyu), लिगामेन्ट (ligāmenṭ), पट्ठा (hi) m (paṭṭhā)
• Hungarian: ínszalag (hu), szalag (hu)
• Icelandic: liðband (is) n, band (is) n
• Italian: legamento (it) m, benderella f
• Japanese: 靭帯 (ja) (じんたい, jintai), 靱帯 (じんたい, jintai)
• Kazakh: байлам (bailam)
• Khmer: វាវ (km) (viəw)
• Korean: 인대(靭帶) (ko) (indae)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: bester (ku)

• Kyrgyz: байламта (ky) (baylamta)
• Lao: ເອັນ (ʼen), ສະໜາຍຸ (sa nā nyu)
• Latvian: saite f
• Lithuanian: raištis m
• Macedonian: лигаме́нт m (ligamént)
• Malay: ligamen
• Maori: nape
• Middle English: ligament
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: шөрмөс (mn) (šörmös), шандас (mn) (šandas)

• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: leddbånd n

• Persian: رباط‎ (fa) (rebât), لیگامان‎ (ligâmân)
• Polish: więzadło (pl) n, wiązadło (pl) n
• Portuguese: ligamento (pt) m
• Romanian: ligament (ro) n
• Russian: свя́зка (ru) f (svjázka), лигаме́нт (ru) m (ligamént)
• Sanskrit: स्नायु (sa) f or n (snāyu)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лига̀мент m

  Roman: ligàment (sh) m

• Slovak: väz m
• Slovene: vez (sl) f
• Spanish: ligamento (es) m
• Swedish: ligament (sv) n, ledband (sv) n
• Tagalog: gatil
• Tajik: пай (pay)
• Tatar: бәйләм (tt) (bäyläm)
• Thai: เอ็น (th) (en)
• Turkish: bağdoku (tr), ligament (tr), ligaman, bağ (tr)
• Ukrainian: зв'я́зка f (zvʺjázka)
• Urdu: رباط‎ (ribāt)
• Uyghur: سىڭىر‎ (si'ngir)
• Uzbek: boylam (uz)
• Vietnamese: dây chằng (vi)
• Welsh: gewyn m

See also

• sinew
• tendon

Anagrams

• tegminal

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ligāmentum, from ligō (“tie, bind”). Cf. also liement, possibly an inherited doublet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /li.ɡa.mɑ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland)

  (file)

Noun

ligament m (plural ligaments)

1. ligament

Related terms

• lier

Further reading

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

Middle English

Alternative forms

• lygament

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ligāmentum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liˈɡaːmɛnt/, /ˈliɡamɛnt/

Noun

ligament (plural ligamentes)

1. A ligament or similar connecting tissue (e.g. a tendon)
2. (rare) That which binds.

Descendants

• English: ligament

References

• “ligā̆ment, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ligament, itself a borrowing from Latin ligāmentum, from ligō (“tie, bind”). Compare legământ, an inherited doublet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [li.ɡaˈment]

Noun

ligament n (plural ligamente)

1. ligament

Declension

Declension of ligament

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) ligament	ligamentul	(niște) ligamente	ligamentele
genitive/dative	(unui) ligament	ligamentului	(unor) ligamente	ligamentelor
vocative	ligamentule		ligamentelor