cheekbone

US/ˈt͡ʃikˌboʊn/

nounC1Very rare — outside the 30,000 commonest English words, so you will meet it in writing rather than in speechneutral

Other forms: cheekbones

The cheekbone is the ridge of the face just below the eye. What gives a face its shape.

Anatomically it is the zygomatic bone, and it is among the most commonly fractured bones in the face because of how exposed it is. High cheekbones are a stock phrase in description and in modelling, and the whole industry of contouring exists to suggest them where they are less pronounced. The word is one word, and the plural is used far more than the singular.

Definitions of cheekbone

1nouncheekboneThe bone below the eye that forms the shape of the cheek.C1
“He had a bruise across one cheekbone.”

Where it comes from

Old English
ċēacbān — cheekbone
Middle English
chekebon
English, today
cheekbone

From Middle English chekebon, chekbone, from Old English ċēacbān (“cheekbone”); equivalent to cheek + bone. Compare Dutch kaakbeen (“jawbone”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 22 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word

cheekbone in the wild

While the terms "zygomatic arch" and "cheekbone" are often used interchangeably, the arch is a specific anatomical structure within the cheekbone (zygomatic bone).
Zygomatic arch
In 1987, he broke the cheekbone of Welsh player Phil Davies with a punch during a rough game in Cardiff.
Wade Dooley
As time progresses, it spreads to the whole lid, then to the orbicularis oris muscle around the lips, and buccinator muscle in the cheekbone area.
Hemifacial spasm
The noseband should be just below the cheekbone, several inches above the nostrils sitting on the nasal bone, and fitted snugly.
Longeing cavesson
To augment the cheeks, a plastic surgeon may place a solid implant over the cheekbone.
Cheek augmentation

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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