Learning the names of facial body parts, the full list of facial body parts is useful in everyday life, from describing a person to a friend, to following a drawing lesson, to understanding a simple anatomy diagram in a textbook. The face carries a small set of features that most people recognise instantly, yet the precise terms for each part, and for the smaller areas around them, are less familiar. This guide gives a clear, neutral vocabulary for the parts of the face, explains where each part sits, and shows how the terms fit together. It is a language and anatomy-terms guide only. It offers no medical advice and no diagnosis, and it contains no imagery beyond words.
The face can be divided into regions: the upper face, the middle face, and the lower face. The upper face includes the forehead and the eyebrows. The middle face includes the eyes, the nose, and the cheeks. The lower face includes the mouth, the chin, and the jaw. Around those regions sit the ears, the temples, and the neck, which are sometimes included in a broad description of the head and face. Knowing those regions first makes the individual terms easier to remember, because each part belongs to a neighbourhood rather than floating alone.
Facial Body Parts of the Upper Face
The forehead is the broad, flat area above the eyebrows and below the hairline. It is the largest single region of the upper face, and it gives the face much of its overall shape. The hairline marks its upper edge, though hairlines vary greatly from person to person. The brow, or brow ridge, is the raised area of bone just above the eyes. It supports the eyebrows and helps shade the eyes from light.
The eyebrows are strips of hair above each eye. Their main everyday terms are simple: the inner end near the nose is sometimes called the head of the eyebrow, the middle is the body, and the outer end near the temple is the tail. Eyebrows help with non-verbal communication, because raising, lowering, or drawing them together changes the expression of the whole set of facial body parts. They also help keep sweat and light rain from running directly into the eyes, though their expressive role is the one most people notice first.
The temples are the flatter areas at the sides of the forehead, between the outer corner of the eye and the top of the ear. The temple is a useful landmark term, because it appears in everyday phrases as well as in anatomy lists. Above the temples, the sides of the head curve back towards the crown, which is the top of the head rather than a part of the face itself. Keeping the temple and the crown distinct helps when reading a diagram that labels the whole head.
Facial Body Parts of the Eyes and Surroundings
The eyes are the most detailed feature of the middle face, and their vocabulary is correspondingly rich. Each eye sits in a bony socket called the orbit. The visible white part of the eyeball is the sclera. The coloured part is the iris, and the dark opening in its centre is the pupil. The pupil changes size with light, growing larger in dim light and smaller in bright light, which is a normal response that helps control how much light enters the eye.
Around each eye are the eyelids. The upper eyelid and the lower eyelid meet at the corners of the eye, called the inner canthus near the nose and the outer canthus near the temple. The upper eyelid usually carries the eyelashes, and the lower eyelid carries shorter lashes. The eyelashes help protect the eye from dust and small particles. The fold of skin above the upper eyelid is sometimes called the eyelid crease, and it varies in prominence from person to person.
Below the eye lies the under-eye area, sometimes called the infraorbital region in formal anatomy. The tear duct, near the inner corner of the eye, is part of the system that keeps the eye moist. The area between the two eyes, above the nose, is the bridge of the nose at its top, or more simply the space between the eyebrows, sometimes called the glabella in formal terms. Learning these smaller labels helps when a diagram points to a precise spot rather than to the eye as a whole.
Everyday Versus Formal Eye Terms
Everyday language usually stops at eye, eyelid, eyelash, and eyebrow. Formal anatomy adds sclera, iris, pupil, orbit, and canthus. Both levels are correct, and they serve different purposes. Everyday terms are best for conversation and description. Formal terms are best for textbooks, diagrams, and examinations. A good learner keeps both sets side by side, so that a diagram label such as ‘iris’ can be matched instantly to the coloured part of the eye in a mirror or a photograph.
Facial Body Parts of the Nose and Cheeks
The nose sits in the centre of the middle face. Its main parts are the bridge, the tip, the nostrils, and the septum. The bridge is the upper, bony ridge that runs down from between the eyes. The tip is the rounded end at the bottom of the nose. The nostrils are the two openings at the base, through which air enters. The septum is the wall of cartilage and bone that divides the inside of the nose into left and right passages. Outside, the small groove between the nose and the cheek, and the fold that runs from the side of the nose towards the mouth, is sometimes called the nasolabial fold in formal terms.
The cheeks are the fleshy sides of the middle and lower face, below the eyes and to the sides of the nose and mouth. The cheekbone, or zygomatic bone in formal anatomy, gives the cheek its upper structure, and the soft tissue below it gives the cheek its fullness. The cheek area is important for expression, because smiling lifts the cheeks and changes the shape of the lower eyelids and the corners of the mouth. The hollow below the cheekbone, sometimes called the cheek hollow, becomes more visible when the mouth is drawn in.
Between the nose and the upper lip lies a small vertical groove called the philtrum. It runs from the base of the nose, between the nostrils, down to the centre of the upper lip. It is a small detail, but it appears frequently in anatomy diagrams and in drawing guides, because it helps artists place the mouth correctly in relation to the nose. Below the philtrum, the upper lip meets the lower lip at the mouth, which belongs to the lower face.
Facial Body Parts of the Mouth, Chin, and Jaw
The mouth is the opening among the facial body parts, the mouth is framed by the upper lip and the lower lip. The corners of the mouth, where the two lips meet, are called the commissures in formal terms, though ‘corners of the mouth’ is perfectly clear in everyday language. The upper lip is usually thinner than the lower lip, and both lips meet along a line called the lip line when the mouth is closed. The small groove below the lower lip, above the chin, is sometimes called the mentolabial sulcus in formal anatomy, though most learners simply call it the chin crease.
The chin is the rounded prominence at the bottom of the lower facial body parts. It sits below the mouth and above the neck, and it gives the lower facial body parts their finishing shape. The jaw, or mandible in formal terms, is the bone that forms the lower jaw and carries the lower teeth. Its lower edge, the jawline, runs from the chin back towards the ears on each side. The jawline is a term used constantly in everyday description, from portrait drawing to simple directions about where a feature sits.
The ears sit at the sides of the head, roughly level with the eyes and nose. While the ear is sometimes counted as a head part rather than a face part, it appears on most face diagrams because it marks the side boundary of the face. The outer ear, or pinna, is the visible flap of cartilage and skin. The earlobe is the soft lower part of the outer ear. The area just in front of the ear, near the jaw joint, is sometimes called the preauricular region, though ‘in front of the ear’ is clearer for most readers.
For related everyday vocabulary guides, see our face guide for learners and our plain-language meaning guide. Both follow the same approach as this article: start with everyday terms, add formal terms only where they help, and keep the language neutral and clear.
How to Remember Facial Body Parts
A simple way to remember facial body parts is to work from top to bottom, in the order a person would describe a face. Start at the forehead, move to the eyebrows, then the eyes and eyelids, then the nose, then the cheeks, then the mouth and lips, then the chin and jawline. That top-to-bottom path matches how most diagrams are labelled, and it prevents the common mistake of jumping between regions and losing track of which part has been covered.
Another helpful method is to group parts by function in a neutral, non-medical way. The eyes, nose, and mouth are openings or sense-related features, while the forehead, cheeks, chin, and jaw give the face its structure. The eyebrows, eyelids, and eyelashes are protective and expressive features around the eyes. Grouping by role, rather than memorising a long list in isolation, makes the vocabulary easier to recall later, whether for a test, a drawing, or a description.
Drawing is one of the best memory aids for facial body parts vocabulary, even for people who do not consider themselves artists. Sketching a simple oval, adding a line for the eyes halfway down, placing the nose in the middle third, and the mouth in the lower third, then labelling each part, turns a word list into a picture. Repeating that sketch a few times, each time labelling from memory before checking, builds a durable mental map of facial body parts.
Describing a Face Clearly
When describing facial body parts, use the region first and the detail second. For example, ‘in the upper face, the eyebrows are thick and straight’ is clearer than a list of disconnected features. ‘In the middle face, the nose has a high bridge and the cheeks are full’ gives a listener a location before a detail. That habit, region then feature, is the same habit used in good diagrams, and it makes spoken descriptions much easier to follow.
| Region | Parts | Everyday note |
|---|---|---|
| Upper face | Forehead, brow, eyebrows, temples | The area above the eyes, up to the hairline |
| Eyes and surroundings | Eye, sclera, iris, pupil, eyelids, eyelashes, eye corners | The most detailed feature; learn formal terms alongside everyday ones |
| Nose and cheeks | Bridge, tip, nostrils, septum, cheeks, cheekbones, philtrum | The centre and sides of the middle face |
| Mouth, chin, and jaw | Upper lip, lower lip, mouth corners, chin, jawline | The lower face, from the lips to the bottom of the jaw |
| Sides of the head | Ears, earlobes, area in front of the ear | Marks the side boundary of the face on most diagrams |
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the main facial body parts?
The main facial body parts are the forehead, eyebrows, eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, lips, chin, and jaw, with the ears marking the sides of the head. Smaller parts, such as the eyelids, eyelashes, nostrils, and philtrum, add detail within those main regions.
What is the difference between the brow and the eyebrow?
The brow is the area of bone and skin above the eyes, sometimes called the brow ridge. The eyebrow is the strip of hair that grows on that area. People sometimes use ‘brow’ to mean ‘eyebrow’ in casual speech, but in anatomy the two are distinct.
Is the ear part of the face?
Strictly, the ear is a part of the head that sits beside the face, but most face diagrams include it because it marks the side edge of the face and helps with proportions. In everyday description, it is natural to mention the ears when describing a face.
Why do anatomy diagrams use formal terms such as sclera and iris?
Formal terms remove ambiguity. ‘Coloured part of the eye’ could be interpreted in several ways, while ‘iris’ names one precise structure. Everyday terms are better for conversation, while formal terms are better for textbooks and examinations, and learning both is the most practical approach.
Conclusion
The vocabulary of facial body parts is small enough to learn in one sitting and useful enough to keep for life. Work through the facial body parts from the forehead down through the eyes, nose, cheeks, mouth, chin, and jaw, add the smaller labels as you go, and practise by sketching and labelling a simple set of facial body parts from memory. With that top-to-bottom map in mind, any diagram, description, or drawing lesson becomes easier to follow, because every term has a place, and every place has a name.
