Bone · Hand

Capitate

Os capitatum

The largest of the carpal bones, occupying the centre of the wrist and named for the rounded head at its upper end, which fits into a recess formed jointly by the scaphoid and the lunate. It has more neighbours than any other carpal — seven in all, counting the three metacarpals it supports — and its lower surface carries the base of the third metacarpal squarely on top of it. Being central, it is the last carpal to be reached from either the back or the palm of the wrist.