-nēəs noun
( plural sple·nii -nēˌī)
Etymology: New Latin, from Latin splenium plaster, patch
: a flat muscle of each side of the back of the neck and upper thoracic region in man arising as a single muscle from the ligamentum nuchae, the spinous processes of the last cervical and six upper thoracic vertebrae, and the supraspinous ligament but dividing into a part that inserts into the mastoid process of the temporal bone and the occipital bone and a part that inserts into the transverse processes of the upper two or three cervical vertebrae — called also respectively splenius capitis, splenius cervicis