LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · neuterthird declension

femur

femur n (genitive feminis or femoris)
Classical[ˈfɛ.mʊr]Ecclesiastical[ˈfɛː.mur]

Meaning

  1. neuterthigh
  2. neuterthighbone
  3. figurativelyneuterthe loins; capacity to produce children
  4. neuterthe space between the grooves of a triglyph

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms

Coxa · Latus · Femur

Coxa and coxendix (κοχώνη) mean the hip; latus, the part between the hip and shoulder; femur and femen, the part under the hip, the thigh. (vi. 84.)

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativefemurfemina
femora
genitivefeminis
femoris		feminum
femorum
dativefeminī
femorī		feminibus
femoribus
accusativefemurfemina
femora
ablativefemine
femore		feminibus
femoribus
vocativefemurfemina
femora

fĕmur, ŏris or ĭnis (acc. to a nom. † femen, mentioned only by Prisc. p. 701 P. and Serv. Verg. A. 10, 344; 778; nom. femus, Ap. M. 8, p. 216, 15; cf.: μῆρος, femus, Gloss. Lab.; dat. femori; femini only Plin. 28, 15, 61, § 217; abl. usually femore, but femine, Plaut. Mil. 2, 2, 48; Verg. A. 10, 788; plur. femora or femina; dat. feminibus, rarely femoribus), n. etym. dub.; cf. root feo of femina, etc.,
I. the upper part of the thigh, the thigh.
I. Lit.: ima spina in coxarum osse desinit, etc. ... inde femina oriuntur, Cels. 8, 1 med.: frons non percussa, non femur, Cic. Brut. 80, 278: ferit femur dextrum dextra, Plaut. Mil. 2, 2, 50: femur caedere, Quint. 2, 12, 10: ferire, id. 11, 3, 123; cf.: feminis plangore et capitis ictu uti, Auct. Her. 3, 15, 27; Cic. N. D. 1, 35, 99; Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 43, § 93: transfixus femore et umero, Suet. Caes. 68; id. Aug. 80: nocet femori conseruisse femur, Tib. 1, 8, 26: et corpus quaerens femorum crurumque pedumque, Ov. M. 14, 64: teretes stipites feminis crassitudine, Caes. B. G. 7, 73, 6: ocius ensem eripit a femine, Verg. A. 10, 788: galli feminibus pilosis, cruribus brevibus, Varr. R. R. 3, 9, 5.—
II. Transf.
A. In architecture, the space between the grooves of a triglyph, Vitr. 4, 3.—
B. Femur bubulum, a plant otherwise unknown, Plin. 27, 9, 56, § 81.—
C. Esp., like lumbi, the loins, of ancestry (Eccl. Lat.): de femore Jacob, Vulg. Ex. 1, 5; id. Gen. 46, 26.

Origins

Uncertain. The heteroclitic (r/n) inflection is rather archaic (as also seen in iecur and iter), descending from Proto-Indo-European *-r̥ ~ *-n-, but no secure Proto-Indo-European origin for femur can be found. De Vaan and Lubotsky tentatively support Steinbauer's derivation from Proto-Indo-European *dʰénwr̥ (“arc, bow”); this is semantically attractive, but the hypothetical change from *-nw- to *-(n)m- from Proto-Indo-European to Latin is strange.

Descendants
  • Catalanfèmur
  • Englishfemur
  • Frenchfémur
  • GermanFemur
  • Italianfemore
  • Occitanfèmur
  • Portuguesefémur
  • Portuguesefêmur
  • Romanianfemur
  • Spanishfémur

In English words that came into English from femur

  • femurfemur
  • femoralfemorālis

Quick answers

What does femur mean in Latin?
femur, a noun, means “thigh; thighbone; the loins”.
What is the genitive of femur?
The genitive singular is feminis. femur is neuter, third declension.
How do you pronounce femur?
In classical Latin, [ˈfɛ.mʊr]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈfɛː.mur].