hyoid

American  

[hahy-oid] / ˈhaɪ ɔɪd /

adjective

1. Also hyoidal hyoidean noting or pertaining to a U -shaped bone at the root of the tongue in humans, or a corresponding bone or collection of bones in animals.

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noun

1. the hyoid bone.

hyoid British  

/ ˈhaɪɔɪd /

adjective

1. of or relating to the hyoid bone

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noun

1. the horseshoe-shaped bone that lies at the base of the tongue and above the thyroid cartilage

2. a corresponding bone or group of bones in other vertebrates

Other Word Forms

• posthyoid adjective
• subhyoid adjective
• subhyoidean adjective

Etymology

Origin of hyoid

1700–10; < New Latin hȳoïdes < Greek hȳoeidḗs, shaped like the letter hypsilon (i.e. upsilon), equivalent to hȳ- (derivative of letter name hŷ, variant of ŷ; upsilon ) + -oeidēs -oid

Example Sentences

The hyoid, however -- the throat bone that supports the tongue -- offered a rare opportunity to assess maturity in a skull-dominated specimen.

From Science Daily • Dec. 9, 2025

"The growth series in our Dino Hall was critical to demonstrating that the hyoid in Tyrannosaurus showed the same kind of growth record as long bones," Morris explained.

From Science Daily • Dec. 9, 2025

Known placoderms have at most five gill arches, others having evolved into jaws and the hyoid, so the pectoral girdle derives from what was once the sixth gill arch, Brazeau’s team concludes.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 1, 2023

In fish the branchial arches form the jaws, the hyoid bone that supports the back of the jaw, and the skeleton that forms the throat and gill slits.

From Science Magazine • May 24, 2023

Omohyoid, ō-mō-hī′oid, adj. pertaining to the shoulder-blade, and to the lingual or hyoid bone—also Omohyoi′dean.—n.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various