Relating to or resembling a skeleton, or extremely thin and emaciated. Can also describe something reduced to its basic framework or structure.
Derived from Greek 'skeletos' meaning 'dried up' or 'withered', from 'skellein' (to dry up). The anatomical term 'skeleton' entered English via Latin in the 16th century, with 'skeletal' following as an adjective form.
The Greek root 'skeletos' originally described mummified bodies, not living bone structures! This word family shows how medical terminology often preserves ancient observational language - the Greeks saw skeletons as 'dried up' remains rather than the living framework we understand today.
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