The word derives from the
Greek word υποχόνδριο ("hypochondrio"). This Greek word means literally "below the cartilage" which refers to the
costal cartilages. In other words, the word refers to the area of the ventral trunk that is located below the costal cartilages. The word once referred only to the soft portion of the abdomen between the rib cage and the navel (the region
once believed to be the seat of
hypochondriasis), but it is not used that way in modern anatomy's schemes for the
regions of the abdomen. Some sources have disputed usage of the term for the parts of the
anterior abdominal wall below the
costal margins. The region named the right hypochondrium exists anatomically, but is almost totally under the chest wall. In clinical situations, the parts of the abdominal wall just below the right and left costal margins are referred to as the right and left hypochondriac regions respectively. ==Significance of region==