Bone · Foot

Intermediate cuneiform

Os cuneiforme intermedium

The smallest of the three cuneiforms, and the reason the second toe's ray is the most rigid part of the forefoot. It is shorter than the cuneiforms on either side of it, so the base of the second metatarsal drops back into the gap between them and is gripped on three sides — a mortise-and-tenon arrangement that allows almost no movement. Like the lateral cuneiform it is broad on top and narrow underneath, and it is that wedge shape, repeated across the row, which closes the arch running side to side across the foot.