The small bones of the wrist; the skeletal elements that form the framework of the hand and wrist in vertebrates.
From carpal (relating to the wrist) plus the standard English plural -s. Carpal comes from Latin carpus, from Greek karpos meaning 'wrist,' with the connection suggesting anything that functions like a joint.
You have 8 carpal bones in each wrist arranged in two rows, and their Latin names (scaphoid, lunate, triquetrum, etc.) are names that actually mean something—'scaphoid' means boat-shaped because that's exactly what it looks like!
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