hyoid bone /hī″oid/ [Gk, hyoeides, upsilon, U-shaped; AS, ban, bone] , a single U-shaped bone suspended from the styloid processes of the temporal bones. The body of the hyoid is square and flat; its ventral surface is convex and angled cranially. Two greater wings of the bone attach to the lateral thyroid ligaments, and the body of the bone attaches to various muscles, such as the hypoglossus and the sternohyoideus. The hyoid is palpable in the neck. Also called lingual bone, os hyoideum.
