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The pterygoid is a paired bone forming part of the palate of many vertebrates, behind the palatine bones.
It is a flat and thin lamina, united to the medial side of the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone, and to the perpendicular lamina of the palatine bone. In many early tetrapods the pterygoid bears teeth (palatal dentition), which are retained by some living squamates.
In mammals, the pterygoid fuses with the ectopterygoid; the resulting fusion is sometimes referred to simply as the pterygoid.
In humans, the pterygoid-ectopterygoid element fuses with the orbitosphenoids, the alisphenoid, the presphenoid, and the basisphenoid to become to the sphenoid bone, of which it is the pterygoid process.
