Hyoid bone at a glance
- What it is
- A U-shaped bone in the neck.
- Location
- Lies in the front of the neck between the mandible and the larynx, at about C3.
- Function
- Anchors the tongue and supports the larynx.
- Body system
- Skeletal · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA52749 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It is the only bone that does not articulate with another bone.
- Has a body and greater and lesser horns.
Clinical relevance
Fracture is uncommon and suggests manual strangulation.
Structures next to the hyoid bone
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Epiglottis · respiratory
- Hyo-epiglottic ligament · respiratory
- Thyrohyoid membrane · respiratory
- Thyro-arytenoid · muscular
- Palatopharyngeus · muscular
- Cuneiform cartilage · respiratory
- Median thyrohyoid ligament · respiratory
- Thyroid cartilage · respiratory
- Middle pharyngeal constrictor · muscular
- Thyrohyoid · respiratory
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Hyoid bone (FMA52749). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.