fetus
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Alternative forms
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Latin fētus (“offspring”). Doublet of fawn.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈfiːtəs/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -iːtəs
Noun
fetus (plural fetuses or fetus or (hypercorrect) feti or (misconstructed) fetii) (American spelling, also Canada, Australia)
- An unborn or unhatched vertebrate showing signs of the mature animal.
- 1963, John W Choate, Henry A. Thiede, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Transcript, Volume 2
- Several feti were removed from every rats' uterus, stripped of their membranes and allowed to lie in the peritoneal cavity connected to the placenta by the umbilical cord and with the placenta still attached to the uterine wall.
- 1963, John W Choate, Henry A. Thiede, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, Transcript, Volume 2
- A human embryo after the eighth week of gestation.
- The sequence is: molecules in reproductive systems, then gametes, zygotes, morulas, blastocysts, and then fetuses.
- (archaic) A neonate
- 1959 [1689], John Locke, chapter 6, in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, vol. 2, New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, Inc., page 77:
- The real essence of that or any other sort of substances, it is evident, we know not; and therefore are so undetermined in our nominal essences, which we make ourselves, that, if several men were to be asked concerning some oddly-shaped fœtus, as soon as born, whether it were a man or no, it is past doubt one should meet with different answers.
Usage notes
- The form fetus is the primary spelling in the United States, Canada, Australia, and in the scientific community, whereas foetus is still commonly used in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations.
- The nominative/accusative plural of fētus in Latin is fētūs with lengthened second vowel. The hypercorrect plurals feti and fetii are thus comparable to the hypercorrect plural octopi of octopus (the Ancient Greek plural of octopus is octopodes).
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
an unborn or unhatched vertebrate showing signs of the mature animal
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See also
References
Anagrams
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