How to Pronounce Fifth Metatarsal

Say it like this: **FIFTH** (rhymes with 'pith') **met-ah-TAR-sal**. The stress falls on the third syllable, TAR, so it sounds like you're saying 'met-ah-TAR-sal' with a stronger emphasis on TAR. The whole phrase sounds like 'FIFTH met-ah-TAR-sal.'

Many people stress the wrong syllable and say 'MET-ah-tar-sal' (with the stress on MET instead of TAR) or 'met-ah-TAR-sul' (with a schwa sound at the end). The correct way is to stress the third syllable: met-ah-**TAR**-sal, with a clear 'sal' sound at the end.

Break it into four syllables like this: **met-ah-tar-sal**. When you say it slowly, each part gets its own beat: met (1), ah (2), tar (3), sal (4).

'Meta' comes from Greek and means 'beyond' or 'between,' and 'tarsal' refers to the bones of the foot (from 'tarsus'). So 'metatarsal' literally means the bones that sit beyond or in front of the tarsal bones of the foot.

It's the long bone on the outer edge of your foot, on the side of your little toe. This bone connects your heel area to your smallest toe and is one of five similar bones that fan out across the middle of your foot.

You might hear a doctor say: 'The X-ray shows a fracture of the fifth metatarsal' or 'He felt pain at the base of the fifth metatarsal.' It's simply the name of the specific bone being discussed.

You might hear 'metatarsal bones' (all five long bones in the foot), 'metatarsus' (the whole middle section of the foot), or 'metatarsalgia' (a general term for foot pain). All these words share the same 'metatars-' root.

Sometimes doctors abbreviate it as 'MT5' or 'the fifth MT,' where MT stands for metatarsal. You might also hear people simply say 'the fifth metatarsal bone' for clarity.