How to Pronounce Ulna

Ulna is pronounced UL-nah. The first syllable rhymes with "pull," and the second syllable sounds like "nah." The stress falls on the first syllable, so you say it a bit louder and longer than the second part.

Many people accidentally say "UHL-nuh" or stress the wrong syllable, like "ul-NAH." The correct way is to put the emphasis on the first syllable: UL-nah, with a short "a" sound at the end, not "uh."

Ulna has two syllables: UL and nah. When you say it, you split it into two clear parts, with the stress on the first one.

The ulna is the longer of the two forearm bones, and it's on the pinky-finger side of your arm. It's the bone you can feel as a hard ridge running from your elbow down toward your wrist.

Ulna comes from Latin, where it originally meant "elbow." This makes sense because the ulna forms the point of the elbow, which is called the olecranon—the bony bump you feel when you bend your arm.

The radius is the other forearm bone, on the thumb side. The ulna and radius work together—the ulna is the longer, stronger bone on the pinky side, while the radius is on the thumb side, and together they allow your forearm to twist and rotate.

You might say, "The doctor examined my ulna after I fell on my arm," or "The ulna and radius are the two bones that make up your forearm."

In medical notes, the ulna is sometimes just written as "ulna" without abbreviation, though you might see it referred to as part of longer bone names. There isn't a single standard short form the way some other medical terms have abbreviations.