Mandible

The mandible is a bone found in all jawed vertebrates. The name comes from Latin mandibula.

Mandible
The mandible
The human skull, with the mandible shown in purple at the bottom.
Details
Precursor	1st branchial arch[1]
Identifiers
Latin	mandibula
MeSH	D008334
Anatomical terms of bone [edit on Wikidata]

In bony fish the lower jaw is made of a number of bones, but these were gradually reduced in evolution.

In humans and other mammals the mandible is simply the jawbone or dentary, which is the largest and strongest bone of the face.

In mammals bones formerly in the lower jaw have become the ear ossicles.