fetus

See also: foetus and fétus

English

A fetus at eight weeks from conception

Alternative forms

• (UK) foetus
• (UK, rare, hypercorrect) fœtus
• (obsolete, erroneous) phoetus, phœtus
• (obsolete, erroneous) faetus, fætus

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin fētus (“offspring”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfiːtəs/
• Rhymes: -iːtəs

Noun

fetus (plural fetuses or feti)

1. (Canada, US) 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.

2. (Canada, US) A human embryo after the eighth week of gestation.

   The sequence is: molecules in reproductive systems, then gametes, zygotes, morulas, blastocysts, and then fetuses.

Usage notes

• The form fetus is preferred in North America and in the scientific community, whereas foetus is still commonly used in Commonwealth nations.

Derived terms

• fetal

Translations

fetus

• Arabic: جَنِين‏‎ m (janīn), حَمْل‏‎ m (ḥaml)
• Armenian: պտուղ (hy) (ptuł)
• Asturian: fetu m
• Bulgarian: заро́диш (bg) m (zaródiš), ембрио́н (bg) m (embrión)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 胎兒 (zh), 胎儿 (zh) (tāi'ér), 胎 (zh) (tāi)

• Czech: plod (cs) m
• Danish: foster (da) n
• Dutch: foetus (nl) n
• Esperanto: feto (eo)
• Faroese: fostur n
• Finnish: sikiö (fi)
• French: fœtus (fr) m
• German: Fötus (de) n
• Greek: έμβρυο (el) n (émvryo)
• Hebrew: עוּבָּר‏‎ m ('ubar)
• Hindi: भ्रूण (hi) m (bhrūṇ)
• Hungarian: magzat (hu)
• Icelandic: fóstur (is) n
• Indonesian: janin (id)
• Italian: feto (it) m
• Japanese: 胎児 (たいじ, taiji)
• Khmer: គភ៌ (km) (koar)
• Korean: 태아 (ko) (taea) (胎兒 (ko))

• Latin: fetus
• Latvian: auglis m
• Macedonian: фетус m (fetus)
• Malay: fetus, janin, janin
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: foster n

  Nynorsk: foster n

• Old Norse: fóstr n
• Persian: جنین‏‎ (fa) (janin)
• Polish: płód (pl) m
• Portuguese: feto (pt) m
• Quechua: sullu
• Romanian: făt (ro) m
• Russian: плод (ru) m (plod), заро́дыш (ru) m (zaródyš), эмбрио́н (ru) m (embrión)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фетус m

  Roman: fetus (sh) m

• Slovak: plod m
• Slovene: fetus (sl) m
• Spanish: feto m
• Swedish: foster (sv) n
• Ukrainian: плід (uk) m (plid), заро́док m (zaródok), ембріо́н m (embrión)
• Vietnamese: thai (vi), bào thai (vi)

See also

• embryo

References

• Health Online

Anagrams

• EF-Tus, UTFSE, fuets

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Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁(y)-, see also Sanskrit धयति (dhayati), Avestan 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬥𐬎‏ (daēnu), Old Armenian դիեմ (diem), Lithuanian žįsti and Old Church Slavonic доити (doiti).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfeː.tus/, [ˈfeː.tʊs]

Adjective

fētus (feminine fēta, neuter fētum); first/second declension

1. pregnant, full of young
2. fruitful, productive
3. of one who has recently given birth; nursing

Inflection

First/second declension.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
nominative	fētus	fēta	fētum		fētī	fētae	fēta
genitive	fētī	fētae	fētī		fētōrum	fētārum	fētōrum
dative	fētō		fētō		fētīs
accusative	fētum	fētam	fētum		fētōs	fētās	fēta
ablative	fētō	fētā	fētō		fētīs
vocative	fēte	fēta	fētum		fētī	fētae	fēta

References

• fetus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Noun

fētus m (genitive fētūs); fourth declension

1. A bearing, birth, bringing forth.
2. Offspring, young, progeny.
3. Fruit, produce.
4. (figuratively) Growth, production.

Inflection

Fourth declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	fētus	fētūs
genitive	fētūs	fētuum
dative	fētuī	fētibus
accusative	fētum	fētūs
ablative	fētū	fētibus
vocative	fētus	fētūs

Descendants

• Aromanian: fetu, featã
• Catalan: feda
• English: fetus, fawn
• Franco-Provençal: feya
• French: foetus, faon
• Friulian: fede
• Istro-Romanian: fetĕ
• Italian: feto

• Occitan: feda, fedon
• Portuguese: feto
• Romanian: făt, fată
• Sardinian: fedu, fetu, etu, fedus
• Spanish: feto
• Tunisian Arabic: فيتوس‏ (fitus)
• Venetian: feda

Related terms

• fētālia
• fētificō
• fētō

• fētōsus
• fētūra
• fētūrātus

References

• fetus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• fetus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “fetus” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)

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Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fěːtus/
• Hyphenation: fe‧tus

Noun

fétus m (Cyrillic spelling фе́тус)

1. fetus

Declension

Declension of fetus

	singular	plural
nominative	fetus	fetusi
genitive	fetusa	fetusa
dative	fetusu	fetusima
accusative	fetus	fetuse
vocative	fetuse	fetusi
locative	fetusu	fetusima
instrumental	fetusom	fetusima