Plural of cartilago (Latin); the anatomical structures made of cartilage, a flexible tissue that supports bones.
From Latin cartilago, meaning cartilage or gristle, possibly derived from a proto-Indo-European root related to 'hard' or 'firm,' creating the technical plural form.
The scientific Latin 'cartilagines' shows how medical and anatomical terminology preserves Latin plurals instead of just adding '-s'—doctors still say 'cartilagines' to sound precise, even though 'cartilages' is technically the English plural.
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