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Is there a word for the spot between the two eyebrows (right above the nose, but below the forehead)?

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Zack Xu
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5 Answers5

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The relevant anatomical term is glabella, defined by Oxforddictionaries.com as

The smooth part of the forehead above and between the eyebrows.

(The plural of glabella is glabellae, though I can't think of many situations where I might have to use it.)

According to Wikipedia,

A bindi (Hindi: बिंदी, from Sanskrit bindu, meaning "a drop, small particle, dot") [...] is a forehead decoration worn in South Asia (particularly India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Mauritius) and Southeast Asia. Traditionally it is a bright dot of red colour applied in the centre of the forehead close to the eyebrows, but it can also consist of other colours with a sign or piece of jewelry worn at this location.

Traditionally, the area between the eyebrows (where the bindi is placed) is said to be the sixth chakra, ajna, the seat of "concealed wisdom".

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Erik Kowal
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  • Looks like you beat me by a few seconds. Well played. – Adrian W Feb 28 '15 at 08:56
  • @AdrianW - Thanks. Such collisions of timing are more frequent here than you might expect, especially where the answer is pretty straightforward. :) – Erik Kowal Feb 28 '15 at 09:02
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    What if it's not smooth, I.e., uni-brow. -1 to Oxford. +1 to Adrian's Wiki, calling it skin. – Mazura Feb 28 '15 at 22:52
  • @Mazura - Smoothness is inherent in the word's etymology: "Early 19th century: modern Latin, from Latin glabellus (adjective), diminutive of glaber 'smooth'." You could, I suppose, use the Latin adjective pilosus ('hairy') as a basis for inventing a new term by analogy, pilosa, to mean "that part of a glabella which is covered by a unibrow". — You're welcome. :) – Erik Kowal Mar 01 '15 at 00:26
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In a thousand words or less: (courtesy of Mari-Lou)

enter image description here

anatomybodygallery.com

Mazura
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Here is the more scientific response. Hope this helps!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glabella

"The glabella, in humans, is the skin between the eyebrows and above the nose."

Adrian W
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In this video, Pahud master class, the great flutist Emmanuel Pahud, explains to a student how to place flute tone in the nose rather than in the mouth. He calls the perceived place of resonance, in the nose between the eyes, the "wasabi point", I suppose because that is where you feel the burn when eating wasabi.

Greg Lee
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  • Hello, Mr. Lee, +1 Thanks for the arcane info, never managed to get around to reading A.E. vanVogt, though I'm sure he/she deserved a crack. I'm familiar with Dr. Bates, though I've not tried his famous method. I'm bleeding rep here. I thought my answer was OK, once had 7 upvotes, now I'm fading fast. –  Feb 28 '15 at 17:40
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In the Old West regarding placement of a deadly bullet, the simple term "right between the eyes" was used. It is not proper nomenclature but very popular slang. Of course glabella is the term you are looking for.

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