Meanings
plural endostea · plural endosteums
- biologyA membranous vascular layer of cells which line the medullary cavity of a bone; an internal periosteum.
Tibial endostea isolated from 19-day-old chick embroys and cultured for 10 days became populated with multinucleated cells that arise from monocytes.
2014, Brian K[eith] Hall, “Cells to Make and Cells to Break”, in Bones and Cartilage: Developmental and Evolutionary Skeletal Biology, 2nd edition, London: Academic Press, →ISBN, page 2554 more examples
Hyaline cartilage is insensitive, and radiographic changes imputed to it can have no bearing on pain from it unless it is so worn away that the endosteums of the articulating bones are rubbing on each other.
1992, John McM[illan] Mennell, “The Musculoskeletal System”, in The Musculoskeletal System: Differential Diagnosis from Symptoms and Physical Signs, Gaithersburg, Md.: Aspen Publishers, →ISBN, page 5The cortical and trabecular endosteums are the inner linings of bone. The osteonal endosteum lines the osteonal canals […] and is the internal lining of bone. It is continuous with the periosteal and cortical endosteums.
1993, William J. Banks, Applied Veterinary Histology, 3rd edition, St. Louis, Mo.: Mosby-Year Book, →ISBN, page 110Periosteum and endosteum are connective tissue sheaths of bone. […] The endosteum is a less well-defined layer of connective tissue and osteogenic cells applied to the wall of a bony cavity. / a. The endosteum lies between the bone tissue and the bone marrow. / b. Unlike periosteum, endosteum lacks a distinct fibrous layer.
1997, Ray C. Henrikson, Gordon I. Kaye, Joseph E. Mazurkiewicz, “Bone”, in Histology (National Medical Series for Independent Study), Baltimore, Md.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, →ISBN, page 131The periosteum is constrained and interrupted by tendons, ligaments, and fibrocartilage, whereas the endosteum is awash with hematopoitic bone marrow[…].
2011, Corey M. Maggiano, “Making the Mold: A Microstructural Perspective on Bone Modeling during Growth and Mechanical Adaptation”, in Christian Crowder, Sam Stout, editors, Bone Histology: An Anthropological Perspective, Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press, →ISBN, page 52
Origin
- Ancient Greekὀστέον“bone”
- Ancient Greekἔνδον“within”
- Englishendosteum
From end- (“inside, internal, within”) (from Ancient Greek ἔνδον (éndon, “within”)) + Ancient Greek ὀστέον (ostéon, “bone”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
endosteum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/endosteum
“endosteum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/endosteum. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “endosteum,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/endosteum.
Source: endosteum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.