# jawbone

> English word · Noun · frequency rank #42,719

## Definitions
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. Credit.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **jawline** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/jawbone-vs-jawline)

## Common misspellings (10)
`ajwbone`, `jabwone`, `jawbbone`, `jawbnoe`, `jawboen`, `jawbonne`, `jawobne`, `jawwbone`, `jjawbone`, `jwabone`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/jawbone