jawbone
noun, verb
jawbone is spelled J-A-W-B-O-N-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,680th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, jawbone means “The bone of the lower jaw; the mandible” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of jawbone is jawbones.
How many letters and syllables are in jawbone?
| Letters | 7: J-A-W-B-O-N-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 42,680th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is jawbone?
Jawbone appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,680th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce jawbone?
- US
Jawbone has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-jawbone.oga, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with jawbone
Also written: jaw-bone (one word or two).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of jawbone
- jawbones plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- jaw bone
- jaw-bone
- jawboning participle, present
- jawboned participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does jawbone mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The bone of the lower jaw; the mandible.
- 2
Any of the bones in the lower or upper jaw.
- 3
A shaken musical instrument (an idiophone) made from the jawbone of an animal and shaken such that the teeth vibrate in their sockets to produce sound.
- 4
archaicslangCredit.
verb
- 1
To talk persistently in an attempt to persuade somebody to cooperate.
- 2
(especially of regulatory agencies) To try to persuade (someone) through implied threats of punitive action, such as tighter regulatory control.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Jawbone in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | mâchoire inférieure, mandibule , mâchoire |
| Portuguese | mandíbula, queixo |
| Spanish | mandíbula |
| German | Kiefer, Kieferknochen , einnorden |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does jawbone come from?
From Middle English jawe bone, a partial calque of earlier Middle English chawlbone, chawylbon, chavylbone, chawle boon, chavyl bon (“jaw bone”, literally “chavel bone”), see chavel-bone; equivalent to jaw + bone.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).