Nerve
Hypoglossal nerve (CN XII)
Motor to the tongue
High-yield
Purely motor to the tongue (except palatoglossus); a lesion makes the protruded tongue deviate TOWARD the damaged side. Exits the hypoglossal canal.
Overview
The twelfth cranial nerve, supplying the intrinsic and most extrinsic muscles of the tongue for movement in speech and swallowing.
Reference facts
- Roots
Motor (cranial nerve)
- Course
Exits the skull through the hypoglossal canal and passes into the floor of the mouth to reach the tongue
- Motor
All intrinsic tongue muscles and the extrinsic muscles genioglossus, hyoglossus, and styloglossus (not palatoglossus)
- Sensory
None
Clinical correlation
'Lick your wounds' — the tongue deviates toward the side of a hypoglossal lesion.