basihyal

B3A1S1I1H4Y4A1L1
/beɪ.sɪˈhaɪ.əl/

noun

Either of two small bones that form the body of the inverted hyoid arch.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

nounbasihyal (plural basihyals)

plural basihyals

  1. vertebrate anatomyanatomyEither of two small bones that form the body of the inverted hyoid arch.

    Coburn (1982) used a posterior extension of the basihyal to group many taxa in Notropis (s. l.) (93).

    1992, M. M. Coburn, T. M. Cavender, “Phylogenetics of North American Cyprinidae”, in Richard L. Mayden, editor, Systematics, Historical Ecology, and North American Freshwater Fishes, page 362
    2 more examples

    The hyoid cartilage is formed of a series of skeletal elements: entoglossum (or paraglossals), basihyal (basihyoid), basibranchial (or urohyal), ceratobranchial, and epibranchial (Fig. 3.21), the most anterior of which (entoglossum and basihyal) constitute the tongue skeleton.

    1999, Nicole Le Douarin, Chaya Kalcheim, The Neural Crest, page 111

    In most mammals, the hyoid apparatus lies at or above the entrance to the larynx and consists of two basic parts: inferiorly, the unpaired basihyal and paired thyrohyal “horns” which connect the basihyal to the thyroid cartilage and superiorly, the paired suspensory stylohyoid chains which are made up of four cartilaginous or ossified links, the ceratohyal, epihyal, stylohyal, and tympanohyal, that connect the basihyal to the temporal bone (e.g., Howes 1896; Negus 1949).

    2015, Dionisios Yoloutas, Sébastien Couette, Lauren B. Halenar, “6: Morphology of Howler Monkeys: A Review and Quantitative Analyses”, in Martín M. Kowalewski, Paul A. Garber, Liliana Cortes-Ortiz, Bernardo Urbani, Dionisios Youlatos, editors, Howler Monkeys: Adaptive Radiation, Systematics, and Morphology, page 144

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekὖ“the letter <i class="Latn mention" lang="en">upsilon</i>”
  2. Englishbasihyal

From basi- + -hyal, from Ancient Greek ὖ (û, “the letter upsilon”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

basihyal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basihyal

MLA

“basihyal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basihyal. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “basihyal,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/basihyal.

Source: basihyal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.