Hypoglossal nerve is the motor nerve to the muscles of the tongue. Its fibres arise from the ventral face of the medulla oblongata in a series lateral to the posterior half of the pyramid.
The filaments converge into three or four bundles that perforate the dura and unite to form the nerve.
The nerve then emerges through the hypoglossal foramen runs downward and backward related to the atlantooccipital articulation.
It passes between the tenth and the eleventh nerves, bends downward and forward, passes over the glossopharyngeal nerve and the great cornu of the hyoid bone.
It gains the lateral face of the hyoglossus muscle and divides into branches to supply the muscles of the tongue.