Stylopharyngeus

//ˌstaɪ.loʊ.fəˈɹɪn.d͡ʒi.əs// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A slender muscle in the head that arises from the base of the styloid process of the temporal bone, inserts into the side of the pharynx, and acts with the contralateral muscle in swallowing to increase the transverse diameter of the pharynx by drawing its sides upward and laterally.

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin stylopharyngeus, clipping of mūsculus stylopharyngeus (“stylopharyngeal muscle”). Doublet of stylopharyngeal.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.