"Dorsal" means "top", like where the dorsal fin on a fish is. It doesn't even re...

jamesbritt · on Nov 9, 2010

    "Dorsal" means "top", like where the dorsal fin on a fish is.

e.g. "of, pertaining to, or situated at the back, or dorsum."

Seems fish are the oddball, in a way. Their top is basically their back.

alextgordon · on Nov 9, 2010

There's an incongruity between animal and human anatomy. In humans, dorsal does indeed mean back, not top.

Wikipedia has a wall of text by way of explanation:

philwelch · on Nov 9, 2010

Except, as far as humans are concerned, "dorsal" and "posterior" are synonymous.

gaelian · on Nov 9, 2010

dictionary.com seems to think you're kind of both right[1].