hyoid

Definition

Shaped like a U, or like the letter upsilon (υ).

Etymology

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”).

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."