Medicine & BodyGreek → English
Sarcomere
/ˈsɑːrkoʊmɪər/noun
The repeating contractile unit of striated muscle, running from one Z-line to the next.
The Greek roots
σάρξ
sárx
flesh
μέρος
méros
part
Literally: “part of the flesh”
The story of the word
The name is honest arithmetic: muscle is flesh divided into identical parts, about two micrometres each, stacked end to end in millions. The stripes visible under a light microscope are the sarcomeres lining up across neighbouring fibres. σάρξ turns up in stranger company elsewhere, since σαρκάζειν meant to tear flesh like a dog before it meant to sneer, which is where sarcasm comes from.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific coinage → English
Same family
sarcoplasmsarcasmsarcophaguspolymer
In a sentence
Strength training adds sarcomeres in parallel; stretching under load adds them in series.
Each sarcomere shortens by about a third at full contraction.