Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The zygomatic bone.
- n. The zygomatic arch.
- n. The zygomatic process.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The bony arch or arcade of the cheek, formed by the malar or jugal bone and its connections: socalled because it serves to connect bones of the face with those of the skull about the ear. In mammals, including man, the zygoma consists of a malar bone connected behind with the squamosal bone, usually by a zygomatic process of the latter, and abutting in front against a protuberance of the superior maxillary bone, or of the frontal or the lacrymal bone, or any of these. It is usually a stout bony arch, sometimes with a strong descending process, giving principal origin to a masseter muscle, and bridging over the temporal muscle. It is sometimes a slender rod, and may be imperfect, as in shrews. The part taken in its for mation by the malar bone is very variable in extent. (See cut under
skull .) Below mammals the construction of the zygoma posteriorly is entirely altered. In birds the arch is articulated there with the quadrate bone, or suspensorium of the lower jaw, representing the malleus of a mammal, aud an additional bone, the quadratojugal, intervenes between the quadrate and the malar proper. In such cases the anterior connection is more particularly with the maxillary bone, or with this and the lacrymal, and the zygoma is generally a slender rod-like structure. (See cut underGallinæ .) In reptiles further modifications occur, such as the completion of the arch behind by union of the jugal bone with the postfrontal and squamosal; or there may be no trace of a structure to which the term zygoma is properly applicable, as in the Ophidia, in which there is no jugal or quadratojugal bone. Among batrachians, as the frog, a zygomatic arch is represented by the connection of the maxillary bone, by means of a quadratojugal bone, with a bone calledtemporomastoid (see cuts there and under Anura). In any case a zygoma consists of a suborbital or postorbital series of ossifications in membrane, or membrane-bones, developed on the outer side of the maxillary arch of the embryo (the same that gives rise to the pterygopalatine bar), and when best differentiated is represented by lacrymal, maxillary, jugal, and quadratojugal bones; and its connection with the sphenoid, as occurs in man, is quite exceptional. - n. The malar or jugal bone itself, without its connections.
- n. The cavity under the zygomatic process of the temporal bone; the zygomatic fossa.
Wiktionary
- n. anatomy The cheekbone.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. The jugal, malar, or cheek bone.
- n. The zygomatic process of the temporal bone.
- n. The whole zygomatic arch.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the slender arch formed by the temporal process of the cheekbone that bridges to the zygomatic process of the temporal bone
Etymologies
- From Ancient Greek ζύγωμα (zugōma), from ζυγόν (zugon, "yoke") (Wiktionary)
- New Latin zygōma, zygōmat-, from Greek zugōma, bolt, from zugoun, to join; see yeug- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“You could see the compensation in the heavier malar bone and much more developed zygoma.”
“The temporal artery, as it ascends over the root of the zygoma, may be compressed effectually against this bony point.”
“Aperture of _entry_ (Mauser), just external to the centre of the right eyebrow; _exit_, above the centre of the right zygoma.”
“_Entry_ behind left ear, just above posterior root of zygoma; gutter fracture; bullet retained within skull.”
“_Entry_, immediately above zygoma; the bullet passed through the temporal fossa, fractured the neck of the mandible, traversed the mastoid process, and emerged at the lower margin of the hairy scalp, 1 inch from the median line.”
“_Entry_ (Mauser), over the centre of the right zygoma; the bullet traversed the right orbit, nose, and left orbit.”
“The bullet passed onwards through the base of the skull, crossing the external auditory meatus, fracturing the zygoma and probably the condyle of the mandible, and eventually lodged beneath the masseter muscle.”
“In another patient a bullet entered above the right zygoma and traversed the orbits, without wounding the globes.”
“In front of the ear, lies the zygoma, one of the most marked and important landmarks to the touch, and in lean persons to the eye.”
“The pulsation of the _temporal_ artery can be felt in front of the ear, between the zygoma and the ear.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘zygoma’.
-
phrontistery-z
from phrontistery.info
zyzzyva, zythum, zymurgy, zymotic, zymotechnics, zymosis, zymosimeter, zymometer, zymology, zymogenic, zymite, zymic and 208 more...
-
come together
Origin: Gk zygÅ-, var. s. of zygoûn
to yoke,
join together
zygote, azygous, heterozygous, homozygous, zygomatic, zygoma, zygomorphic, zygodactyl, zygospore, hemiazygous, zygobranchiate, zygocactus and 3 more...
-
The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
-
Human Anatomy
Terms relating to the human body, primarily in osteology.
humerus, scapula, ulna, radius, maxilla, mandible, mandible, occipital bone, parietal bone, frontal bone, tibia, talus and 104 more...
-
M'ogle
As to feature the creature "mog".
cosmogony, transmogrify, glom, golem, mog, mogul, moggy, smog, demogenic, cormogeny, seismograph, primogenitor and 359 more...
-
participation
parade, pare, parlay, parry, parure, apparatus, apparel, comprador, disparate, emperor, imperative, imperator and 86 more...
-
Nabokovia
slime, mnemoptical, reverbed, forefeel, fair copy, scriggle, gaufrette, inamorata, wanter, noctambule, incarnadine, intercadence and 59 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for zygoma.

mollusque Citation at Botticellian. Jun 13, 2009