I know the old story about the biggest organ in the body is the skin. While trying to answer the question of whether the joints are organs, I noticed that quite a few small obscure things are considered organs and the definition I found of “organ” was also general enough to include joints as organs. Does anyone have a nice tight, technical definition of a joint and know the generally accepted number of joints in the human body? One would presumably have to specify whether all the bones, for example, are each individually considered organs in the count or collectively considered as one organ. Thanks. Arturas
From Merriam-Webster:
2a) a differentiated structure (as a heart, kidney, leaf or stem) consisting of cells and tissues and performing some specific function in an organism
2b) bodily parts performing a function, or cooperating in an activity
OK. I can see how bones can fit into either of these definitions–and joints can possibly shoe-horned into 2b–but I personally don’t consider bones “organs.” That doesn’t mean that biologists or medical types agree, but that’s the dictionary definition.
From OED:
- A part or member of an animal or plant body adapted by its structure for a particular vital function, as digestion, respiration, excretion, reproduction, locomotion, perception, etc.
Under this definition, legs can be considered organs. :dubious:
BTW, Captain Ramius sends his regards.
Well, white blood cells are produced by bone marrow…