foramen

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin forāmen (“aperture or opening produced by boring”), from forō (“to pierce or bore”) +‎ -men (nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəˈɹeɪ.mɛn/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fəˈɹeɪ.mən/
• Rhymes: -eɪmən

Noun

foramen (plural foramina or foramens)

1. (anatomy) An opening, an orifice, or a short passage, especially in a bone.

   The skull contains a number of foramina through which arteries, veins, nerves, and other structures enter and exit.

   • 1926, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Land of Mist‎^[1]:

     That is better! There is - as I have explained - a slight want of alignment in the cervical vertebrae which has, as I perceive it, the effect of lessening the foramina through which the nerve roots emerge.

   Hyponyms: alar foramen, foramen cecum, foramen magnum, foramen of Magendie, foramen of Monro, foramen of Morgagni, foramen of Winslow, foramen ovale, foramen triosseum, neuroforamen, parietal foramen, sphenopalatine foramen

Derived terms

• foraminal
• foraminate
• foraminous

See also

• meatus

References

• “foramen”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
• “foramen”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Foreman, foreman, name for

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Latin

Etymology

From forō (“to pierce or bore”) +‎ -men (noun-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /foˈraː.men/, [fɔˈɾäːmɛn]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /foˈra.men/, [fɔˈrɑːmɛn]

Noun

forāmen n (genitive forāminis); third declension

1. (Classical Latin, rare) an opening or aperture produced by boring; a hole
2. (transferred sense, Late Latin) an opening, hole, cave

   Synonym: caverna

Inflection

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	forāmen	forāmina
Genitive	forāminis	forāminum
Dative	forāminī	forāminibus
Accusative	forāmen	forāmina
Ablative	forāmine	forāminibus
Vocative	forāmen	forāmina

Derived terms

• forāmen acūs
• forāminātus (adjective)
• forāminōsus (adjective)

Related terms

• forātus
• forō

Descendants

Descendants of foramen in other languages

• Asturian: furame; furacu, buracu, furáu
• Catalan: forat
• → English: foramen
• → Italian: forame
• Opata: furaco
• Portuguese: buraco; → forame, forâmen
• → Spanish: foramen

References

• foramen in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• foramen in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• foramen in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• foramen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin forāmen (“aperture, opening”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /foˈɾamen/, [foˈɾa.mẽn]

Noun

foramen m (plural forámenes)

1. (anatomy) foramen

Derived terms

Related terms

• foramen ciático mayor
• foramen espinoso
• foramen infraorbitario
• foramen intervertebral

• foramen magno
• foramen oval
• foramen redondo mayor
• foramen vertebral

Related terms

• foraminífero
• perforar
• horadar