The expanded upper end of the windpipe or trachea, connected with the hyoid bone or cartilage. It contains the vocal cords, which produce the voice by their vibrations, when they are stretched and a current of air passes between them. The larynx is connected with the pharynx by an opening, the glottis, which, in mammals, is protected by a lidlike epiglottis.

Greek = voice-box, adjective - laryngeal.

The cartilage support structures that connect the superior trachea, the pharynx inferior to the tongue, and the hyoid bone. It supports the sphincter at the entrance to the trachea (the glottis or true vocal cords) and is therfore also the organ responsible for voice. image

A complex cartilaginous structure that surrounds and protects the glottis and vocal cords; the superior margin is bound to the hyoid bone, and the inferior margin is bound to the trachea.