Ethmoid Bone Quiz

The ethmoid bone on its own, from the front, with seven parts to find.

Ethmoid Bone Quiz

Name Date

Tap the perpendicular plate

1 of 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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Write the name of each numbered part.Answer key

  1. Crista galli
  2. Cribriform plate
  3. Olfactory foramina
  4. Perpendicular plate
  5. Ethmoid air cells
  6. Superior nasal concha
  7. Middle nasal concha

Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry. Licence: own work.

Each numbered ring is a button. Use the arrow keys to move between them and Enter to choose. Names are read out in Study, and once a part is answered.

Next step Next: the whole skull, 36 parts

All 7 parts on the diagram

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  1. Crista galli A small upward crest on the midline; the name means rooster's comb. One of the coverings of the brain attaches to it.
  2. Cribriform plate The small, flat area on either side of the crista galli. It is the roof of the nasal cavity and part of the floor under the front of the brain.
  3. Olfactory foramina Many small openings in the cribriform plate. Nerve branches from the smell area of the nose pass through them to reach the brain.
  4. Perpendicular plate The upper part of the nasal septum, the wall dividing the nose.
  5. Ethmoid air cells Many small, thin-walled spaces in each side of the ethmoid. They lie between the nasal cavity and the eye socket and are part of the paranasal sinuses.
  6. Superior nasal concha A thin, curved shelf that sticks out into the upper nasal cavity. It is part of the ethmoid.
  7. Middle nasal concha A thin, curved shelf below the superior concha. It is part of the ethmoid; the inferior nasal concha below it is a separate bone.

How this list was compiled: Every name and detail checked on 2026-09-30 against OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e, section 7.2 The Skull (the ethmoid bone: crista galli, cribriform plate, olfactory foramina, perpendicular plate, superior and middle nasal conchae, ethmoid air cells), https://openstax.org/books/anatomy-and-physiology-2e/pages/7-2-the-skull, and against Wikipedia, text only: Ethmoid bone, Cribriform plate, Crista galli and Nasal concha. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

The ethmoid sits in the middle of the skull, between the eye sockets; the small skull shows where. The drawing lifts it out and holds the anatomical features of the ethmoid bone a course asks for.

Read the full guide

Start on the midline

Numbers 1 to 4 are on or beside the midline: the crest on top, the flat plate on either side of it, the holes in that plate and the long plate hanging below. Number 5 is the set of air spaces in each side block. Numbers 6 and 7 are the two curls of bone on the inner wall of each block, the smaller above the larger.

  • Cribriform means sieve-like: it is the plate with the holes.
  • The crista galli points up toward the brain; the perpendicular plate points down into the nose.

Questions and answers

What are the parts of the ethmoid bone?

The crista galli on top, the cribriform plate on either side of it with its olfactory foramina, the perpendicular plate below, and a side mass on each side that holds the ethmoid air cells and carries the superior and middle nasal conchae.

Where is the ethmoid bone?

In the middle of the skull, between the eye sockets. It forms the roof and upper side walls of the nasal cavity, the upper part of the nasal septum and part of the inner wall of each eye socket.

What passes through the cribriform plate?

Small nerve branches that carry smell. They run from the smell area at the top of the nasal cavity up through the olfactory foramina to the brain.

Which nasal conchae belong to the ethmoid bone?

The superior and the middle nasal concha on each side. The inferior nasal concha, the lowest of the three, is a separate bone of the skull.

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