Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several bony processes on the upper part of the femur of many vertebrates.
  • noun The second proximal segment of the leg of an insect.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In anatomy and zoology, a tuberosity, protuberance, or apophysis of the upper part of the femur or thigh-bone, for the insertion of various muscles which flex, extend, or rotate the limb.
  • noun In entomology, the second joint of an insect's leg, succeeding the coxa.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Anat.) One of two processes near the head of the femur, the outer being called the great trochanter, and the inner the small trochanter.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The third joint of the leg of an insect, or the second when the trochantine is united with the coxa.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anatomy In vertebrates with legs, the end of the femur near the hip joint, not including the head or neck.
  • noun In some arthropods, the second segment of the leg, between the coxa and the femur.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun one of the bony prominences developed near the upper extremity of the femur to which muscles are attached

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin, from Greek trokhantēr, ball of the hip joint, from trekhein, to run.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek τροχαντήρ (trokhantēr)

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Examples

  • The bed is a mat made of rushes sewn together with twine; the hip-bone soon becomes sore on the hard flat surface, as we are not allowed to make a hole in the floor to receive the prominent part called trochanter by anatomists, as we do when sleeping on grass or sand.

    Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa 2004

  • Everyone knows the greater trochanter is on the lateral edge of the humerus, rather than the medial.

    Hail, Hailoween! 2009

  • Tainotherium differs from other West Indian species in possessing a large femoral head, a proximally angled femoral neck, a short greater trochanter and a medially positioned lesser trochanter unconnected by an intertrochanteric crest, and a transversely flattened, anteroposteriorly bowed shaft lacking well-defined ridges.

    Archive 2006-12-01 2006

  • Feet: the legs or organs of locomotion; one pair attached to each thoracic segment; composed of coxa, trochanter, femur, tibia and tarsus only; plural of foot; q.v. Female: designated by "O+" the astronomical sign for Venus: that sex in which the ova are developed.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • Monotrocha - ous: Hymenoptera in which the trochanters are single: having legs in which the trochanter is one-jointed.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • Femur - ora: the thigh: usually the stoutest segment of the leg, articulated to the body through trochanter and coxa and bearing the tibia at its distal end: in Coccidae and quite commonly, the femur and trochanter are considered as one, for measuring purposes.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • Apophysis: the lower of the two joints of trochanter in ditrocha trochanterellus; the dorso-lateral metathoracic spines in

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • Varon Dn. Cristobal Colon, 'and in the said box human remains which on examination by the licentiate of equal class Jose de Jesus Brenes are found to be: A femur deteriorated in the upper part of the neck, between the great trochanter and its head.

    Santo Domingo A Country with a Future Otto Schoenrich

  • Fulcrant: the trochanter when continued along the femur, as in

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

  • Ditrocha: Hymenoptera; that series having the trochanter two-jointed.

    Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology John. B. Smith

Comments

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  • "In anatomy and zoology, a tuberosity, protuberance, or apophysis of the upper part of the femur or thigh-bone, for the insertion of various muscles which flex, extend, or rotate the limb. There may be one (elephant), two (usually), or three (horse) such processes; in man there are two, called the greater and the lesser trochanter . . . ."

    --CD&C

    January 25, 2013