Definition of "cricoid" [cri•coid]

• A ring-shaped cartilage of the lower larynx that articulates with the thyroid cartilage and artenoid cartilages. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Also called cricoid pressure, the eponymous maneuver has for decades been described as the pinching of the esophagus between the cricoid - a ring of cartilage that surrounds the trachea"
• "The cricoid is shaped like a signet ring and forms part of the anterior and lateral walls, as well as most of the posterior walls, of the larynx."
• "The arytenoid consists of two pyramid shaped cartilage that lie at the back of the larynz at the upper edge of the cricoid."