breastbone vs sternum

breastbone

noun
  • The central narrow bone in the front of the chest, connecting the collarbone and the top ribs. 

sternum

noun
  • The breastbone, consisting of the manubrium, gladiolus, and xiphoid process. 

  • The sclerotized ventral plate of spiders, between the coxae, marking the floor of the cephalothorax. 

How often have the words breastbone and sternum occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )