Meanings
plural innominate bones
- anatomySynonym of hip bone (“one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones, that together form the sides of the pelvis”).First known use early 18th c.
A partial innominate bone (Z8623) is known from the original collections[…], but it was probably from a juvenile individual, since the sutures between the ischium and iliac portions of the innominate are not completely fused up; the suture is unfused even within the acetabulum.
2021, Donald R[oss] Prothero, Erin De Anda, Daniella Balassa, “The Postcranial Skeleton of Capromeryx minor, a Dwarf Pronghorn (Artiodactyla: Antilocapridae) from the Late Pleistocene of Rancho La Brea”, in Spencer G[eorge] Lucas, Adrian P. Hunt, Asher J. Lichtig, editors, Fossil Record 7 (Bulletin of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science; 82), Albuquerque, N.M.: New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 328, column 22 more examples
From this second junction or plexus beneath the gluteus maximum muscle, are given usually three cutaneous nerves to the integument of the buttock: all these perforate the gluteus; one being found near the posterior superior spine of the innominate bone, another, the largest, near the end of the sacrum, and the remaining one being intermediate between the other two.
1843 February 10, George Viner Ellis, “On the Posterior Divisions of the Spinal Nerves”, in The London Medical Gazette; Being a Weekly Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences, volume I (New Series; volume XXXI overall), number 793, London: […] [Wilson and Ogilvy] for Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, […], →OCLC, page 698On its sides, in the upper two-thirds of its extent, the sacrum is closely united to the two pelvic or innominate bones, which, together with it, enclose a basin or cavity, called the pelvis. Examined in early life, each innominate bone is seen to consist of three parts, which meet at the articular cup, called the acetabulum, for the head of the thigh bone.
1873, John Cleland, “The Skeleton”, in Animal Physiology: The Structure and Functions of the Human Body (Putnam’s Advanced Science Series), New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, […], page 31Synonyms: innominate, innominatum, os coxae, os innominatum, hip bone
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSynonym of hip bone (“one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones, that together form the sides of the pelvis”).
More synonyms by meaning
nounlarge flaring bone forming one half of the pelvis; made up of the ilium and ischium and pubis
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Late Latinos innōminātum
- Englishinnominate bone
From innominate (“having no name, nameless, unnamed”, adjective) + bone (noun), possibly a calque of Late Latin os innōminātum. It has been suggested that the bone “remains unnamed and unnameable” because it “is of so complex and irregular a form, that it bears no perceptible resemblance to any other known object”.
More words from Late Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Greek ανώνυμος οστό
- ανώνυμος οστό (anónymos ostó)one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
Korean 무명뼈
- 무명뼈 (mumyeongppyeo)one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
Latin os innōminātum
- os innōminātumone of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
Malay tulang inominat
- tulang inominatone of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
Polish kość miedniczna
- kość miednicznaone of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
Spanish hueso innominado
- hueso innominadoone of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with innominate bone
Cite this entry
innominate bone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/innominate%20bone
“innominate bone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/innominate%20bone. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “innominate bone,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/innominate%20bone.
Source: innominate bone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.