Word.ws English Dictionary

wishbone

Syllables: wish·boneUS/ˈwɪʃˌboʊn/

wishbone noun: a forked bone between the neck and breast of a bird consisting chiefly of the two clavicles fused at their median or lower end, regarded as a lucky charm in some countries.

wishbone: a forked bone between the neck and breast of a bird consisting chiefly of the two clavicles fused...
Image: Petko Yotov ( 5ko ), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

wishbone (plural wishbones)

  1. A forked bone between the neck and breast of a bird consisting chiefly of the two clavicles fused at their median or lower end, regarded as a lucky charm in some countries.
  2. A spar in two parts, between which a sail is hoisted, the wishbone extending its clew.
  3. Any sailing vessel rigged with a wishbone.
  4. A particular kind of offensive formation. See wishbone formation.
    Synonyms:
    bone
  5. A suspension component similar in shape to a chicken wishbone.

Verb

wishbone (third-person singular simple present wishbones, present participle wishboning, simple past and past participle wishboned)

  1. (transitive) To form into a wishbone-like shape; to fork.

Synonyms of wishbone

Forms of wishbone

Noun
pluralwishbones
Verb
third-person singular presentwishbones
present participlewishboning
past participlewishboned
pastwishboned

Plural of wishbone: wishbones

Origin of wishbone

From wish + bone.

Words formed from wishbone

Phrases with wishbone

Questions about wishbone

What does wishbone mean?
Wishbone means a forked bone between the neck and breast of a bird consisting chiefly of the two clavicles fused at their median or lower end, regarded as a lucky charm in some countries.
What part of speech is wishbone?
Wishbone can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce wishbone?
Wishbone is pronounced /ˈwɪʃˌboʊn/ (US).
What is the plural of wishbone?
The plural of wishbone is wishbones.

Words near wishbone in the dictionary

  1. Wishart
  2. Wishart distribution
  3. Wishart distributions
  4. Wisharts
  5. Wishaw
  6. wishbone
  7. wishbone bush
  8. wishbone flower
  9. wishbone flowers
  10. wishboned
  11. wishbones

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: wishbone (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-wishbone.wav.

Cite this entry: “wishbone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wishbone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.