Where the hyoid bone sits in the skeleton
The hyoid bone is a U-shaped bone at the front of the neck, below the jaw. It does not form a joint with any other bone; it hangs from muscles and ligaments and anchors muscles of the tongue and swallowing. It has a central body with greater and lesser horns on each side, and lies at the level of the third cervical vertebra between the jaw and the larynx. The lesser horns hang from the styloid process of the temporal bone by the stylohyoid ligaments.
Frequently asked questions
Which part of the skeleton is the hyoid bone in?
The hyoid bone is one of the bones of the skull and hyoid. This group covers the bones that enclose the brain, the bones that frame the face, and the hyoid at the front of the neck.
How many bones are in the skull?
The skull has 22 bones: eight cranial bones that enclose the brain and fourteen facial bones that frame the face. The hyoid in the front of the neck is a separate bone that forms no joint with any other bone.
Is there one hyoid bone or a pair?
There is just one hyoid bone, on the midline of the body.
At what level of the neck is the hyoid?
At the level of the third cervical vertebra, between the underside of the jaw and the thyroid cartilage of the larynx.
Other bones of the skull and hyoid
- Frontal bone
- Parietal bone
- Temporal bone
- Occipital bone
- Sphenoid bone
- Ethmoid
- Zygomatic bone
- Maxilla
- Mandible
- Nasal bone
- Lacrimal bone
- Palatine bone
- Vomer
- Inferior nasal concha
By region
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