Plural of ostium; small openings or mouths, particularly used in anatomy for tiny passages or holes in the body.
From Latin 'ostium' meaning 'mouth' or 'opening,' related to the root 'os' meaning 'mouth.' The word was adopted into anatomical and scientific Latin to describe various small openings in organisms.
This is one of those Latin terms that doctors and scientists still use today—the singular 'ostium' is especially important in cardiac anatomy, where it describes the openings of blood vessels into the heart!
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