cephalic

¹

[ suh-fal-ik ]

adjective

1. of or relating to the head.
2. situated or directed toward the head.

-cephalic

²

1. variant of -cephalous:

   brachycephalic.

cephalic

¹

/ sɪˈfælɪk /

adjective

1. of or relating to the head
2. situated in, on, or near the head

-cephalic

²

combining form

1. indicating skull or head; -headed

   brachycephalic

cephalic

/ sə-făl′ĭk /

1. Located on or near the head.

Derived Forms

• -cephaly, combining_form:in_noun:countable

Other Words From

• ce·phali·cal·ly adverb
• postce·phalic adjective
• proce·phalic adjective
• unce·phalic adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cephalic¹

1590–1600; < Latin cephalicus < Greek kephalikós of the head. See cephal-, -ic

Origin of cephalic²

< Greek -kephal ( os ) -cephalous + -ic

Word History and Origins

Origin of cephalic¹

from Greek -kephalos

Example Sentences

But the court heard that despite a 31-week scan recording the baby as completely breech, three subsequent midwife examinations recorded it as being in a head down, cephalic position.

From BBC

The circling motion was more relaxed: the rays were touching each other, and they weren't unfurling their cephalic fins—the horn-like appendages in front of their face—to eat.

From National Geographic

This has to be done quickly, what I’m after now, he realized; he hurried down the hall and all at once his detection gear registered the presence of cephalic activity.

From Literature

“For your cephalic pattern,” Crams said.

From Literature

His cephalic pattern taken, he found himself being led off to an equally familiar room; reflexively he began assembling his valuables for transfer.

From Literature

Words That Use -cephalic

What does -cephalic mean?

The combining form -cephalic is used like a suffix meaning “having a head or heads.” It is often used in medical and scientific terms.

The form -cephalic comes from the Greek kephalḗ, meaning “head.”

The combining form -cephalic is a variant of -cephalous, as in dicephalous.

Want to know more? Read our Words That Use -cephalous article.

Corresponding forms of -cephalic combined to the beginning of words are cephalo- and cephal-, which you can learn more about in our Words That Use articles for each form.

Also deriving from kephalḗ are the combining forms encephalo- and encephal-, meaning “brain.” Discover how these forms are used in our Words That Use encephalo- and encephal- articles.

Examples of -cephalic

One example of a botany term that uses -cephalic is monocephalic, meaning “bearing one flower head,” like a dandelion or domesticated sunflower.

The first part of monocephalic might look familiar to you. Mono– means “one, single, alone.” The second part of the word, -cephalic, means “having a head,” as we’ve seen. So, monocephalic literally translates to “having a single head.”

What are some words that use the combining form –cephalic?

• acephalic
• brachycephalic
• eurycephalic
• leptocephalic
• platycephalics

Break it down!

The term isocephalic is a term sometimes used in fine arts to describe figures which have a body part that are all composed at approximately the same level (iso– means “equal”). Which body part does isocephalic refer to?