Thyroid cartilage at a glance
- What it is
- The thyroid cartilage is the largest cartilage of the larynx, forming the laryngeal prominence.
- Location
- It lies at about C4 to C5 in the anterior neck, above the cricoid cartilage and below the hyoid bone.
- Function
- It protects the vocal folds and anterior larynx, and provides attachment for laryngeal muscles and ligaments.
- Body system
- Respiratory · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA55099 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Made of two laminae joined anteriorly, forming the laryngeal prominence (Adam's apple), more prominent in males.
- The superior horns attach to the hyoid via the lateral thyrohyoid ligaments; the inferior horns articulate with the cricoid at the cricothyroid joints.
Structures next to the thyroid cartilage
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Thyro-arytenoid · muscular
- Vocalis · muscular
- Vocal ligament · respiratory
- Cuneiform cartilage · respiratory
- Arytenoid cartilage · respiratory
- Thyro-epiglottic ligament · respiratory
- Corniculate cartilage · respiratory
- Transverse arytenoid · muscular
- Oblique arytenoid · muscular
- Thyrohyoid · respiratory
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Thyroid cartilage (FMA55099). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §22.1 Organs and Structures of the Respiratory 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.