Internal

Author: Sara Ferreira, MD • Reviewer: Dimitrios Mytilinaios, MD, PhD
Last reviewed: October 30, 2023
Reading time: 1 minute

Internal is a directional term that means inside or closer to the centre of an organ or cavity.

The opposite of internal is external which means outside of or farther from the centre of an organ or cavity.

For example, the organs of the abdominal cavity are internal to the muscles of the abdominal wall and vice versa.

Terminology	English: Internal Latin: Internus
Examples	External ear, internal ear, external iliac artery, internal iliac artery

Learn all the anatomical terms and planes with the following study unit.

Sources

All content published on Kenhub is reviewed by medical and anatomy experts. The information we provide is grounded on academic literature and peer-reviewed research. Kenhub does not provide medical advice. You can learn more about our content creation and review standards by reading our content quality guidelines.

Moore, K. L., Dalley, A. F., & Agur, A. (2017). Clinically oriented anatomy (8th ed.). Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.

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Internal

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