parietal

See also: pariétal

English

Etymology

From Latin parietālis, from pariēs (“wall”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pəˈɹaɪ.ə.təl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

parietal (comparative more parietal, superlative most parietal)

1. (anatomy) Of or relating to the wall of a body part, organ or cavity.

   Hydrochloric acid is secreted by the parietal cells of the gastric glands, located on the wall of the fundus of the stomach.

   • 2018, Guilherme Carvalhal Ribas, Applied Cranial-Cerebral Anatomy:

     The superior aspect of the supramarginal gyrus lies underneath the euryon, which corresponds to the most prominent point of the parietal tuberosity or bossa […]

2. (anatomy) Of or relating to the parietal bones.
3. Of or relating to college living and, especially, its regulation.
   • 1856, B. H. Hall, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

     At Harvard College, the officers resident within the college walls constitute a permanent standing committee, called the Parietal Committee.

4. (botany) Attached to the main wall of the ovary, and not to the axis; said of a placenta.

Derived terms

• antiparietal
• biparietal
• capsuloparietal
• centroparietal
• dorsoparietal
• epiparietal
• extraparietal
• frontoparietal
• gastroparietal
• ilioparietal
• inferoparietal
• interparietal
• intraparietal
• lateroparietal
• medioparietal
• occipitoparietal
• parietal art
• parietal bone
• parietal cell
• parietal foramen
• parietal lobe
• parietally
• parietal pleura
• posteroparietal
• postparietal
• preparietal
• sphenoparietal
• squamosoparietal
• subparietal
• temporoparietal
• transparietal
• uteroparietal
• ventroparietal
• visceroparietal
• visuoparietal

Translations

of or relating to the wall of a body part, organ or cavity

• Arabic: جِدَارِيّ (jidāriyy)
• Finnish: parietaalinen (fi), parietaali-
• French: pariétal (fr)
• Hungarian: fali (hu), parietális
• Polish: ciemieniowy (pl)

Noun

parietal (plural parietals)

1. (anatomy) Either of the two parietal bones, on the top and side of the skull.
2. Any of the scales of a snake that are located on the head and connected to the frontals towards the posterior.
3. (archaeology) A flat Roman wall tile with roughened surface, used as a base for plasterwork.
4. (informal) Dormitory rules governing visits from members of the opposite sex.

Anagrams

• Petralia

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin parietālis (“relating to walls”), from pariēs (“wall of a house”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [pə.ɾi.əˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia, Northwestern) [pa.ɾi.eˈtal]
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

parietal m or f (masculine and feminine plural parietals)

1. parietal

Derived terms

• lòbul parietal

Noun

parietal m (plural parietals)

1. parietal bone

Synonyms

• os parietal

Further reading

• “parietal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “parietal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “parietal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “parietal”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Galician

Etymology

From Latin parietālis (“relating to walls”), from pariēs (“wall of a house”).

Adjective

parietal m or f (plural parietais)

1. parietal, pertaining to the parietal region of the head

Noun

parietal m (plural parietais)

1. (anatomy) the parietal bone

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin parietālis (“relating to walls”), from pariēs (“wall of a house”).

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /pa.ɾi.eˈtaw/ [pa.ɾi.eˈtaʊ̯], (faster) /pa.ɾjeˈtaw/ [pa.ɾjeˈtaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐ.ɾjɛˈtal/ [pɐ.ɾjɛˈtaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐ.ɾjɛˈtal/ [pɐ.ɾjɛˈtaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /pɐ.ɾjɛˈta.li/

Adjective

parietal m or f (plural parietais, not comparable)

1. (relational) wall (of a room)
2. that which is normally hung on walls (such as tapestries or paintings)

Synonyms

• parietário

Noun

parietal m (plural parietais)

1. (anatomy) parietal bone

Hypernyms

• osso

Holonyms

• crânio

Coordinate terms

• occipital, frontal, temporal, esfenoide, etmoide

Further reading

• “parietal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “parietal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin pariēs, parietis

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālislbor.

Old French -al

Middle French -al

French -al

French pariétalbor.

Romanian parietal

Borrowed from French pariétal.

Adjective

parietal m or n (feminine singular parietală, masculine plural parietali, feminine/neuter plural parietale)

1. parietal

Declension

Declension of parietal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	parietal		parietală	parietali	parietale
	definite	parietalul		parietala	parietalii	parietalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	parietal		parietale	parietali	parietale
	definite	parietalului		parietalei	parietalilor	parietalelor

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Latin pariēs

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin parietālisder.

Spanish parietal

Derived from Latin parietālis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /paɾjeˈtal/ [pa.ɾjeˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: pa‧rie‧tal

Adjective

parietal m or f (masculine and feminine plural parietales)

1. (anatomy) parietal

Derived terms

• esfenoparietal
• lóbulo parietal

Noun

parietal m (plural parietales)

1. parietal bone

Further reading

• “parietal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025