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Reviewed July 5, 2026
What is jaw width?
Jaw width, known in the literature as bigonial width, is the distance across the lower face between the two jaw angles (the gonion points where the mandible turns up toward the ear). It is the measurement that decides whether a face reads as a soft oval or a strong, square jaw. A wide jaw is one of the most sexually dimorphic features on the human face, which is why it shifts how masculine or feminine a face looks.
How It's Measured
How is jaw width measured?
Jaw width is read straight across the front of the face. You take the distance between the left and right gonion, the bony corner where the lower jaw angles upward, and that single span is the bigonial width (Popa et al., 2025). It is the widest part of the lower third, so it sets how square or how tapered the jaw looks head-on.
- Gonion (jaw angle): the paired corners of the mandible. The line between them is the bigonial width.
- Gonial angle: a separate measurement, the bend of the jaw at each gonion. A sharper angle reads more defined, a flatter one softens the corner.
- Width versus taper: a face can be wide at the jaw yet still taper to the chin, so jaw width is always judged against the cheekbones above it.
Read together, the bigonial width and the gonial angle tell you whether the lower face frames the chin in a soft curve or a hard square (Naini, 2011).
Widening the jaw took the bigonial width from 106 mm to 114 mm on the same face. The lower third reads noticeably wider and squarer, while the eyes, cheekbones, lighting and framing stay identical.
Why It Matters
Why does jaw width matter?
The jaw carries most of the signal for how masculine or feminine a lower face looks. A wide jaw is built by testosterone. When boys are given even low-dose testosterone during puberty, the mandible grows measurably more (Verdonck et al., 1999), and the square jaw that results is one of the clearest markers of a male face (Waynforth et al., 2005). The female jaw grows the same way but far less, which is why a narrower lower face tends to read as more feminine (Johnston, 2000).
This is also why a single ideal width is the wrong way to think about it. What looks balanced depends on sex and on the rest of the face. A wide jaw can look commanding on a man and heavy on a woman, and the same bigonial measurement reads completely differently depending on how wide the cheekbones sit above it.
It is worth being honest about the perception research, because it is messier than looksmaxxing forums suggest. A strong jaw signals dominance, but the evidence that masculine jaw width raises attractiveness is weak. Large studies find that averageness and femininity predict facial attractiveness far more reliably than masculinity does (Lee et al., 2025), and even the famous link between jaw width and a wide face is inconsistent once you account for facial fat (Kramer, 2017). The numbers in the cards and table below are working ranges, not targets to chase.
100–115 mm
Men
95–105 mm
Women
95–115 mm
Typical Range
Approximate bigonial width in adults. Jaw width is judged proportionally against the cheekbones and chin, and it varies with individual structure and background.
Demographic Variants
Jaw Width by Demographic
Jaw width varies most by sex, and the difference is driven by hormones rather than ethnicity. The pattern below reflects how the bigonial width separates male and female faces; each row links to the source.
Population | Jaw width tendency | Source |
|---|---|---|
Men | Wider jaw, squarer gonial corners, built by higher testosterone exposure | |
Women | Narrower jaw on average, softer corners, from lower androgen exposure | |
Male facial architecture | A pronounced square jaw is a defining marker of the male face | |
Bony reference values | Bigonial width and gonial angle measured directly on the mandible, males slightly greater |
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Your Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
A wide jaw is mostly genetic and hormonal. Higher testosterone exposure during puberty grows the mandible wider and squarer (Verdonck et al., 1999), so a broad bigonial width often just means a strong, masculine-leaning bone structure. Enlarged masseter (chewing) muscles can add to the look on top of the bone.
It comes down to the bigonial width, the distance between the two jaw angles. A wide jaw spans further across the lower face and tends to look squarer, while a narrow jaw tapers more toward the chin and reads softer. The wide, square jaw is one of the most reliably male features (Waynforth et al., 2005).
A square jaw signals dominance, but it is not a shortcut to attractiveness. Large studies find that averageness and femininity predict facial attractiveness far more consistently than jaw masculinity does (Lee et al., 2025), so context matters. A strong jaw can suit one face and overpower another.
Sometimes. If the width comes from enlarged masseter muscles, botulinum toxin injections can shrink them and slim the lower face over a few weeks, with the effect wearing off in months unless repeated (Kim et al., 2010). If the width is bony, narrowing the bigonial width is a surgical change rather than something injections can fix.