sulcus

American  

[suhl-kuhs] / ˈsʌl kəs /

noun

plural

sulci

1. a furrow or groove.

2. Anatomy. a groove or fissure, especially a fissure between two convolutions of the brain.

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sulcus British  

/ ˈsʌlkəs /

noun

1. a linear groove, furrow, or slight depression

2. any of the narrow grooves on the surface of the brain that mark the cerebral convolutions Compare fissure

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Other Word Forms

• subsulcus
  noun

Etymology

Origin of sulcus

1655–65; Latin: furrow

Compare meaning

How does sulcus compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• gyrus vs. sulcus

Example Sentences

These patterns were based on sulcus depth and cortical thickness, which describe the folding of the brain surface and the thickness of the brain's outer layer.

From Science Daily • Jan. 4, 2026

"You can think about the intraparietal sulcus as having two knobs on a radio dial: one that adjusts focusing and one that adjusts filtering," Ritz said.

From Science Daily • Mar. 8, 2024

They are arranged in a circular-shaped row just in front of the sulcus terminalis of the tongue.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

The circumflex artery arises from the left coronary artery and follows the coronary sulcus to the left.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

A considerable area of the anterior part of the nasal septum is also visible by anterior rhinoscopy, and between it and the middle turbinal is a narrow chink—the olfactory sulcus.

From Manual of Surgery Volume Second: Extremities—Head—Neck. Sixth Edition. by Miles, Alexander