English Vocabulary: Parts of the Body

Here is some essential vocabulary to talk about parts of your body in English, from top to bottom.

Head = the top of your body.

Face = forehead (above your eyes), eyes, nose.

mouth, chin (below your mouth), ears, cheeks (under your eyes and to the sides of your nose).

Eyebrows (line of hair above your eyes), eyelid (skin that closes over your eyes when you sleep),
eyelashes (the hairs which grow along the top and along the bottom of your eyes).

Your mouth consists of your lips (top and bottom lip), your teeth and your tongue.

Throat = inside your mouth, at the back. It leads down to your chest, or up to your nose.

Hair (this is always uncountable: “Her hair is brown.”)

Neck = the column that supports your head.

Shoulders = the widest part of your body, where your arms join your body.

Arms – upper arm (below the shoulder), elbow (the bone in the middle of your arm), wrist
(pronounced /rist/, where your hand joins your arm).
Hands – on each hand you have four fingers and one thumb. On the end of your fingers you have
fingernails, and on the end of your thumbs you have thumbnails.

Chest = the part of your body (on the front) from your shoulders down to your waist.

Breasts = the two areas of extra flesh on a woman’s chest.

Back = from the neck to the waist.

Waist = the bottom of your chest, where your body is narrower.

Hips = Left and right bones below your waist, where your upper body meets your lower body.

Genitals = the area where the male / female sexual organs are.

Bottom = At the bottom of your back – what you sit on.

Legs – the thigh (the top part of your leg, pronounced /th -eye/), knee (the middle part of your leg), calf
(the bottom part of your leg), ankle (where your foot joins your leg).

Feet – on each foot you have five toes, each with a toenail.

Major internal organs

Brain = inside your head, it controls every part of your body.

Heart = it beats and pumps blood around the body.

Lungs = two organs which fill with air.

Stomach = where your food goes after you eat it.

Intestines = where food goes after it leaves your stomach.

Liver and kidneys = the organs that deal with waste.

Major bones

Skeleton = your bone structure, from top to bottom.

Skull = the bones which form your head.

Spine = the bone that goes from your neck down to your bottom.

Ribs = the bones in your chest that protect your lungs.

Pelvis = the bones around the front of your hips

Verbs to do with the body

see (with your eyes)

smell (with your nose)

hear (with your ears)

taste (with your tongue)

bite (with your teeth)

eat (with your mouth)

swallow (with your throat)

breathe (with your nose or mouth)

touch (with your hands)

walk / run (with your legs)

lift / carry (with your arms)

Parts of the Body Exercise

Choose the correct answer.

1. Do you write with your left or your right __ ?

fingers

hand
wrist

2. He goes to the gym to lift weights. He's got great biceps in his __ .

arms

hands

legs

3. My __ are tired after all that running.

arms

eyes

legs

4. Her __ are worse. She needs some new glasses.

arms

eyes

lips

5. Close your __ when you eat!

eyes

mouth

nose

6. If you've got a cold, it's difficult to breathe through your __ .

mouth

nose

teeth

7. Brush your __ at least twice a day to keep them healthy.

hair

hands

teeth
8. He broke two __ in the accident.

ribs

skulls

spines

9. During a cold, you can lose your sense of __ .

seeing

smell

touch

10. She fell over in the road and hurt her __ .

ankle

brain

heart