A European Informational Website
learn more
The underarm (or armpit, axilla, or oxter) is the area on the human body directly under the joint where the arm connects to the shoulder.
<BR> <BR>
Anatomically, the axilla has the following boundaries:
Underarm hair usually grows in the underarms of both males and females, beginning in adolescence, though it is common in some societies for women to remove it for aesthetic reasons, while men tend to keep it. Recently, however, many men in the U.S. and Europe have begun to remove underarm hair due to popularization by hairless male models and athletes and thinking it is embarrassing if they show it when wearing a sleeveless shirt.
Body odor develops in the underarms due in part to the waste products of microorganisms that feed on sebum, the fatty secretions produced by apocrine glands. The native microorganisms are regarded as an ecoorgan.
A wide variety of deodorant and antiperspirant products are sold for the purpose of mitigating this odor.
The underarms are among the locations in the human body which are most vulnerable to tickling. The underarms are generally very ticklish.
The sexual attraction to the underarms is called axillism or maschalophilous.
The term oxter, pronounced 'ock-ster' is most often used in Scotland, northern England, and Ireland. Northern Ireland generally replace all other names of underarm for oxter.
The term "underarm" only refers to the outer surface of the axilla.[1] However, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably in casual contexts.
Colloquially, armpit refers to an object or place which is smelly, greasy or otherwise undesirable.
<gallery> Image:Gray410.png|Superficial muscles of the chest and front of the arm. Image:Gray411.png|Deep muscles of the chest and front of the arm, with the boundaries of the axilla. Image:Gray523.png|Axillary artery and its branches - anterior view of right upper limb and thorax. Image:Gray576.png|The veins of the right axilla, viewed from in front. Image:Gray809.png|The right brachial plexus (infraclavicular portion) in the axillary fossa; viewed from below and in front. Image:Gray1215.png|The left side of the thorax. </gallery>