the.com/hyoid bone
The only bone in your body that floats free, attached to nothing but muscle.
means A small U-shaped bone in your neck that anchors your tongue and voice box, held in place entirely by muscles and ligaments rather than joined to any other bone.
from From Greek 'hyoeides,' meaning 'shaped like the letter upsilon (υ)' — literally 'U-shaped.' The term describes the bone's distinctive curved form, not any mythical or anatomical backstory; ancient Greek anatomists simply named it after the letter it resembled.
- location
- Sits in your neck above the larynx
- connections
- Doesn't touch any other bone
- function
- Anchors your tongue and swallowing muscles
- forensics
- Fractured hyoid often signals strangulation in autopsies