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Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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latero- Also lateri-.

Lateral; to one side.

[Latin latus, later-, side.]

The latero- form appears in a number of specialist medical terms, usually hyphenated. Some refer to lateral displacement: lateroflexion, bending or curvature of a body part to one side; lateroversion (Latin vertere, to turn), displacement of an organ (especially the uterus) to one side. Others refer to the side of a specified structure: laterocervical (Latin cervix, cervic-, neck), the side of the neck; laterodorsal (Latin dorsum, back), the side of the back of an organ, especially in a part of the brain called the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus; lateroventral (Latin venter, ventr-, belly), similarly the side of the front of an organ. The form spelled lateri- is rare, the only example at all met with being laterigrade, walking sideways, as some species of spiders do.

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