A standard position which an organism is viewed when talking about the locations that make up its body. In terms of human anatomy, this refers to a person standing erect, feet forward, arms hanging at the sides, with the palms facing forward and the thumbs to the outside.

The reason behind this is so that a standard directional system can be used and understood by all doctors, scientists, anatomists, and students everywhere, all the time. Once anatomical position is determined, one can say that "up" is superior, "down" is inferior, "front" is anterior, and "back" is posterior. Other terms and words used are cephalic, which means towards the head, and caudal, which means towards the tail. These two are used only when talking about the trunk, and not the limbs.

It must also be noted that posterior and anterior are used for determining what goes in front, and what follows, respectfully. Therefore, if talking about human anatomy, the ventral surface, or belly is anterior, and the dorsal surface, or the back, is posterior. As another example, if talking about canine anatomy, ventral would be inferior because the belly is below, and dorsal would be superior, because the back is above.

For even more information, see proximal, distal, medial, lateral, superficial, deep, prone, supine, plane, and region.