The trapezoid bone (distal carpal) touches it articulates with and the scaphoid bone (proximal carpal) that also touches it. It is often referred to as the greater multangular bone.

The name for this bone is derived from the greek word, trapezion kind of  quadrilateral and literally means a table with four legs. It resembles a rectangle with a four-sided (quadrilateral) rectilinear shape that does not have any two sides running in two parallel lines.

It also articulates with four other bones in the carpus which are named the first metacarpal, the second metacarpal, scaphoid and trapezoid bone.