\Pter"y*goid\, a. [Gr. ?, ?, a wing + -oid.] (Anat.)
(a) Like a bird's wing in form; as, a pterygoid bone.
(b) Of, pertaining to, or in the region of, the pterygoid
    bones, pterygoid processes, or the whole sphenoid bone.
    -- n. A pterygoid bone.
{Pterygoid bone} (Anat.), a bone which corresponds to the
   inner plate of the pterygoid process of the human skull,
   but which, in all vertebrates below mammals, is not
   connected with the posterior nares, but serves to connect
   the palatine bones with the point of suspension of the
   lower jaw.
{Pterygoid process} (Anat.), a process projecting downward
   from either side of the sphenoid bone, in man divided into
   two plates, an inner and an outer. The posterior nares
   pass through the space, called the pterygoid fossa,
   between the processes.