cheekbone

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃikˌboʊn/
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

cheekbone (plural cheekbones)

  1. The small prominent bone of the cheek.
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
      She was like a Beardsley Salome, he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.
    • 1982, Douglas Adams, Life, the Universe and Everything, page 113:
      A youngish-looking man came up to him, and aggressive-looking type with a hook mouth, a lantern nose, and small beady little cheekbones.

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