the.com/breastbone
the bony shield standing between your heart and the entire chaotic world.
means The flat, narrow bone running down the center of your chest, to which most of your ribs attach in front.
from A plain English compound, exactly what it says: "breast" (Old English brēost, the chest) plus "bone" (Old English bān). English has long preferred such honest, stacked-up body words; its Latin-derived twin is the "sternum," from Greek sternon, meaning the chest.
- blood factory
- its marrow churns out millions of cells hourly
- cpr target
- chest compressions can crack it saving you
- three parts
- manubrium, body, and the tiny xiphoid tip
- late bloomer
- its segments fully fuse only in adulthood
- surgeon's gate
- sawed open for access to the heart
for instance
gladiator's sternum fracture — common injury in ancient roman gladiators from chest blows, documented in skeletal remains
xiphoid process syndrome — condition where the lower breastbone cartilage causes chest pain, named in medical literature