means The patella is the small, roughly triangular bone at the front of your knee — the kneecap — that protects the joint and gives your thigh muscles leverage to straighten the leg.

from From Latin patella, "small pan" or "shallow dish" — the diminutive of patina, a broad plate. Roman anatomists looked at that flat, rounded little bone and saw a tiny serving dish, and the name stuck through the centuries of medical Latin.