The main bones, head to toe

The femur is the longest and strongest bone in the body, about a quarter of a person's height.

Skull

The skull has 8 cranial bones that enclose the brain and 14 facial bones that shape the face, including the upper and lower jaw. Inside each ear are three tiny bones, the malleus, incus and stapes. In adults the cranial bones are locked together at seams called sutures, and the lower jaw (mandible) is the part you move when you talk and chew.

Spine

The vertebral column runs from the skull to the pelvis. From the top there are 7 cervical vertebrae in the neck, 12 thoracic vertebrae in the upper back and 5 lumbar vertebrae in the lower back. Below them are the sacrum and the coccyx. The first two neck vertebrae have special names: the atlas (C1) carries the skull and the axis (C2) has a peg that the atlas turns around. Between the vertebrae lie pads of cartilage, the intervertebral discs. Seen from the side, the spine is not straight but gently curved, which you can see if you turn the 3D model.

Rib cage

There are 12 pairs of ribs, and every pair joins one of the 12 thoracic vertebrae at the back. At the front, most ribs reach the sternum (breastbone) through bars of cartilage. Ribs 1 to 7 attach to the sternum by their own cartilage and are called true ribs. Ribs 8 to 12 are false ribs: the cartilage of ribs 8 to 10 joins the cartilage of the rib above, and ribs 11 and 12, the floating ribs, do not reach the sternum at all. The sternum itself has three parts: the manubrium at the top, the body and the small xiphoid process at the bottom.

Shoulders, arms and hands

Each shoulder girdle has two bones: the clavicle (collarbone) at the front and the scapula (shoulder blade) at the back. The clavicle is the only long bone that lies horizontally, and its joint with the sternum is the only bony link between the arm and the trunk. The upper arm has one bone, the humerus. The forearm has two: the radius on the thumb side and the ulna on the little-finger side. Then come the 27 bones of the wrist and hand.

Hips, legs and feet

Each hip bone forms from three bones that fuse: the ilium, the broad flaring part you can feel at your side; the ischium, which you sit on; and the pubis at the front. The two hip bones, the sacrum and the coccyx together make the pelvis. The thigh has the femur, the longest and strongest bone in the body, which makes up about a quarter of a person's height. In front of the knee sits the patella (kneecap), the largest sesamoid bone, which grows inside a tendon. The lower leg has the thick tibia on the inner side, which bears the weight, and the thin fibula on the outer side. The foot ends with 7 tarsals, 5 metatarsals and 14 phalanges.

Many of these names come in pairs, one in everyday words and one in Latin. Korean school books likewise mix native Korean names with older names built from Chinese characters, so learners there meet two names for the thigh bone too. The flashcards below give the pairs you will meet most often.