hyoid
/ˈhaɪ.ɔɪd/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.25 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Of or pertaining to the hyoid bone.
noun
Ellipsis of hyoid bone.
noun
A curved line resembling the English uppercase letter U.
Example Sentences
- "This stick has a hyoid shape."
- "The hyoid bone in her throat flutters as if discharging some subvocal rosary."
- "Beebe referred to these never-before-seen creatures as monsters, as devils and dragons. But he though of their bodies as philosophies, traditions of thought, as schools of dragonism. A college drop-out, he wondered what was to be learned at their great university: An astronesthes with batteries of hells-eye lights on its cheeks, a looped string of twenty lavender glowing beads suspended from its hyoid dewlap."
- "the vulture, relinquishing its title, surely in natural justice gave me a right to this femur, this curiously distorted hyoid?"
Etymology
Etymology tree Ancient Greek ὗ (hû) Ancient Greek -ο- (-o-) Proto-Indo-European *weyd- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *wéydos Proto-Hellenic *wéidos Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos) Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *-ēs Proto-Hellenic *-ēs Ancient Greek -ης (-ēs) Ancient Greek -ειδής (-eidḗs) Ancient Greek ῡ̔οειδής (hūoeidḗs)bor. Latin hȳoīdēs French hyoïdebor. English hyoid Borrowing from French hyoïde, from New Latin hȳoīdēs, from Ancient Greek ῡ̔οειδής (hūoeidḗs, “shaped like the letter "υ"”), from ὖ (û, “the Greek letter upsilon”) + -ο- (-o-) + -ειδής (-eidḗs, “-like, -oid”).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: hyoïde, hȳoīdēs, ῡ̔οειδής