tail bone
- noun
- /teɪl boʊn/
- Specialized
:
cóccix
- Does it hurt down by your tail bone, or is it up higher?
Examples
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Hey man, you broke my tail bone!
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-I think I broke my tail-bone.
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His tail bone.
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The item is highly efficient and energy-savvy, thanks to its complex structure that includes a skull, spine, ribs, legs, and tail bones.
Blog text (31) -
When he fell off his bike, he landed hard and hurt his tail bone.
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After sitting for a long time on the hard bench, I felt pain in my tail bone.
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During the yoga class, she was careful to protect her tail bone while practicing the poses.
Synonyms
7
8.9
A small triangular bone at the base of the spine called the tailbone
7
3.1
A small bone at the base of the spine that you sit on
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'tail bone' is directly compositional: it denotes the bone at the rear/tail area, which a learner can infer from 'tail' (rear appendage) + 'bone' (skeletal tissue). Although the clinical term 'coccyx' might be new, the everyday descriptive phrase follows a transparent, cross-linguistically common naming pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will understand it.
Etymology
Tail bone is named after an animal's tail and the word bone; it is the small bone at the very end of the spine, where a tail would be. So the name helps you remember it refers to the 'coccyx', the tiny bone that often gets sore when you sit on hard seats.