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A fixed frame for the body.
Also known as: Anatomical position terms, Directional terminology anatomy
The convention naming directions on a body relative to a defined standard posture rather than to the viewer.
Name directions on the body relative to the standard anatomical position.
Contexts: Medicine, Laboratory
Defined against a fixed reference posture rather than against the body as it happens to lie, so the terms remain valid whatever position the patient is in — the frame travels with the anatomy.
Contexts: Medicine, Laboratory
Several terms swap meaning between human and veterinary usage because a quadruped's axes do not map onto a biped's, so the same word describes different directions in the two literatures.
Human and veterinary anatomical terms differ for several directions.
Contexts: Medicine, Laboratory
Paired terms written as abbreviations on diagrams and images, with arrows on figures showing the axes they name.