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retinaculum

/ˌrɛtɪˈnækjʊləm/noun

retinaculum is a noun meaning “A connecting band” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled R-E-T-I-N-A-C-U-L-U-M, and it appears about once in every 39 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of retinaculum is retinacula.

What does retinaculum mean?

noun

  1. 1

    A connecting band.

    the retinacula of the ileocaecal and ileocolic valves

  2. 2

    One of the annular ligaments which hold the tendons close to the bones at the larger joints, as at the wrist and ankle.

  3. 3

    One of the retractor muscles of the proboscis of certain worms.

  4. 4

    A loop on the underside of the forewing of some moths.

  5. 5

    A small gland or process to which bodies are attached; as, the glandular retinacula to which the pollinia of orchids are attached, or the hooks which support the seeds in many acanthaceous plants.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce retinaculum?

  • /ˌrɛtɪˈnækjʊləm/

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Forms of retinaculum

  • retinacula plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is retinaculum?

Retinaculum appears about once in every 39 million words in written English, the 191,932nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Retinaculum in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

In the sense (anatomy) an annular ligament:

LanguageWords
GermanHalteband

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does retinaculum come from?

From Latin retināculum, from retinēre (“hold back”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).