Phrase guide

innominate bone

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ɪˌnɒmɪnət ˈbəʊn/
  • General-American: /ɪˌnɑmɪnət ˈboʊn/
  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -əʊn

1

noun

Meaning 1

Synonym of hip bone (“one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones, that together form the sides of the pelvis”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: anatomy, medicine, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: innominate, innominatum, os coxae, os innominatum, hip bone

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

large flaring bone forming one half of the pelvis; made up of the ilium and ischium and pubis

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: hipbone

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: bone, os

History

Etymology

From innominate (“having no name, nameless, unnamed”, adjective) + bone (noun), possibly a calque of Late Latin os innōminātum. It has been suggested that the bone “remains unnamed and unnameable” because it “is of so complex and irregular a form, that it bears no perceptible resemblance to any other known object”.

Across languages

Translations

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Greek: ανώνυμος οστό (anónymos ostó) — one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
  • Korean: 무명뼈 (mumyeongppyeo) — one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
  • Latin: os innōminātum — one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
  • Malay: tulang inominat — one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
  • Polish: kość miedniczna — one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone
  • Spanish: hueso innominado — one of two roughly symmetrical parts of the skeleton, each composed of the fused iliac, ischial, and pubic bones (cognates) — see also hip bone