placenta

See also: placentă

English

Etymology

Elision for phrases such as New Latin placenta uterī (“womb cake”), placenta uterina (“uterine cake”), from Latin placenta (“flat cake”), because of the flat round shape of the afterbirth.

Pronunciation

• enPR: plə-sĕn'tə, IPA^(key): /pləˈsɛntə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntə

Noun

placenta (plural placentae or placentas)

Explainer video about the human placenta

1. (anatomy) An organ in most mammals during gestation that supplies food and oxygen to the foetus and passes back waste. It is on the wall of the uterus and links to the foetus through the umbilical cord. It is expelled after birth.

   Synonyms: afterbirth, (of an animal, UK, dialectal) clean, (of an animal, obsolete) glean

2. (botany) In flowering plants, the part of the ovary where ovules develop; in non-flowering plants where the spores develop.

   Synonym: (obsolete) trophosperm

Coordinate terms

(animalian):

• amnion, amnio-
• chorion, chorio-

Derived terms

• placenta cake
• placental
• placenta praevia
• placentary
• placentation
• placentiferous
• placentiform
• placentitis
• placento- (and derivatives therefrom)
• placentome
• pseudoplacenta
• subplacenta

Translations

anatomy: placenta

• Albanian: placentë f
• Arabic: مَشِيمَة f (mašīma), خَلَاص m (ḵalāṣ), سُخْد m (suḵd)
• Armenian: ընկերք (hy) (ənkerkʻ)
• Asturian: placenta f
• Azerbaijani: plasenta, ətənə, cift
• Belarusian: плацэ́нта f (placénta)
• Bengali: অমরা (bn) (omra)
• Bikol Central: inulnan (bcl)
• Bulgarian: плаце́нта f (placénta)
• Burmese: အချင်း (my) (a.hkyang:)
• Catalan: placenta (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 胎盤 / 胎盘 (toi¹ pun^4-2)

  Mandarin: 胎盤 / 胎盘 (zh) (tāipán)

• Czech: placenta (cs) f
• Danish: moderkage (da) c
• Dupaningan Agta: enyanan
• Dutch: moederkoek (nl) m, placenta (nl) f
• Estonian: platsenta
• Faroese: eftirburður m, fitilókur m, fylgi n, eftirferð f, móðurkøka f
• Finnish: istukka (fi)
• French: placenta (fr) m
• Galician: placenta (gl) f
• Georgian: პლაცენტა (ṗlacenṭa)
• German: Plazenta (de) f, Mutterkuchen (de) m
• Greek: πλακούντας (el) m (plakoúntas)

  Ancient: χόριον n (khórion)

• Hebrew: שִׁלְיָה (he) f
• Hindi: बीजांडासन m (bījāṇḍāsan), अपरा (hi) f (aprā), खेड़ी (hi) f (kheṛī), गर्भनाल (hi) f (garbhanāl), पुरइन (hi) (purain), आंवल (āmval)
• Hungarian: méhlepény (hu)
• Icelandic: fylgja (is) f, legkaka f
• Irish: slánú m
• Italian: placenta (it) f
• Japanese: 胞衣 (ja) (えな, ena), 後産 (ja) (あとざん, atozan), 胎盤 (ja) (たいばん, taiban)
• Kalmyk: киисн (kiisn)
• Kashmiri: شِکَم (śikam)
• Kazakh: жолдас (joldas), ұрықжолдас (ūryqjoldas)
• Khmer: សុក (km) (sok)
• Korean: 태반(胎盤) (ko) (taeban)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: hevalbiçûk (ku)

• Kyrgyz: тон (ky) (ton), чөп (ky) (cöp)
• Lao: ແຫ່ (hǣ), ສະຫະຊາດ (sa ha sāt)
• Latvian: placenta f
• Lithuanian: placenta f
• Macedonian: плацента f (placenta)
• Malay: uri (ms), plasenta
• Maori: rehuwhāereere, ewe
• Navajo: awééʼ biyaałáí
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: morkake m or f

  Nynorsk: morkake f

• Pashto: اباڼه f (abā́ṇa), انول m (anól)
• Persian: جفت جنین (joft-e janin), جفت (fa) (joft), مشیمه (fa) (mašime), همراه (fa) (hamrâh)
• Polish: łożysko (pl) n
• Portuguese: placenta (pt) f
• Romanian: placentă (ro) f
• Russian: плаце́нта (ru) f (placénta), после́д (ru) m (posléd)
• Sanskrit: अमरा (sa) f (amarā)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: по̏стељица f, пла̀це̄нта f

  Roman: pȍsteljica (sh) f, plàcēnta (sh) f

• Slovak: placenta (sk) f
• Slovene: posteljica (sl) f
• Spanish: placenta (es) f
• Swedish: moderkaka (sv) c, placenta (sv)
• Tagalog: inunan
• Tajik: ҳамроҳ (tg) (hamroh), ҳамроҳак (hamrohak)
• Tamil: பனிக்குடம் (ta) (paṉikkuṭam)
• Telugu: జరాయువు (te) (jarāyuvu), మాయ (te) (māya)
• Thai: รก (th) (rók)
• Turkish: plasenta (tr), etene (tr), döl eşi (tr)
• Ukrainian: плаце́нта f (placénta)
• Urdu: آن٘وَل (ur) f (ā̃val)
• Uyghur: ئەش (esh)
• Uzbek: yoʻldosh (uz)
• Vietnamese: nhau (vi), thực giá noãn, nhau thai
• Waray-Waray: inulnan

botany

• Catalan: placenta (ca) f
• Galician: placenta (gl) f
• Romanian: placentă (ro) f
• Russian: семяно́сец (ru) m (semjanósec)
• Spanish: placenta (es) f

Anagrams

• Tlapanec, pantacle

Asturian

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta, from Latin placenta (“cake”), from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta), accusative of πλακόεις (plakóeis, “flat”).

Noun

placenta f (plural placentes)

1. (anatomy) placenta

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta, from Latin placenta (“cake”), from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta), accusative of πλακόεις (plakóeis, “flat”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [pləˈsen.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [plaˈsen.ta]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

placenta f (plural placentes)

1. (anatomy, botany) placenta

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta, from Latin placenta (“cake”), from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta). Doublet of palačinka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈplat͡sɛnta]

Noun

placenta f (relational adjective placentální or placentární)

1. placenta

Declension

Declension of placenta (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	placenta	placenty
genitive	placenty	placent
dative	placentě	placentám
accusative	placentu	placenty
vocative	placento	placenty
locative	placentě	placentách
instrumental	placentou	placentami

Further reading

• “placenta”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “placenta”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “placenta”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2025

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin placenta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌplaːˈsɛn.taː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pla‧cen‧ta
• Rhymes: -ɛntaː

Noun

placenta f (plural placentae or placenta's, no diminutive)

1. placenta

   Synonyms: moederkoek, nageboorte

Derived terms

• placentadier

Related terms

• moederkoek

Descendants

• → Indonesian: plasenta

French

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta.

Pronunciation

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

placenta m (plural placentas)

1. placenta

Descendants

• → Turkish: plasenta

Further reading

• “placenta”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta, from Latin placenta (“cake”), from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta), accusative of πλακόεις (plakóeis, “flat”).

Noun

placenta f (plural placentas)

1. (anatomy, botany) placenta

Interlingua

Noun

placenta (plural placentas)

1. placenta

Related terms

• placental

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta, from Latin placenta (“cake”), from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta, “flat”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaˈt͡ʃɛn.ta/
• Rhymes: -ɛnta
• Hyphenation: pla‧cèn‧ta

Noun

placenta f (plural placente)

1. (anatomy, botany) placenta

Related terms

• placenta previa
• placentare

Anagrams

• placante

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta), πλακοῦντα (plakoûnta), accusative of πλακόεις (plakóeis), πλακοῦς (plakoûs, “flat cake”), from πλάξ (pláx, “flat”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [pɫaˈkɛn.ta]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [plaˈt͡ʃɛn.ta]

Noun

placenta f (genitive placentae); first declension

1. a placenta cake; a round cake with a ribbed base and a convex top with a knob in the middle and a honey and cheese filling.
2. a dessert cake of any type
   • 20 BCE – 14 BCE, Horace, Epistles IX.9–11:

     Quid quaeris? Vivo et regno, simul ista reliqui
     Quae vos ad caelum fertis rumore secundo,
     Utque sacerdotis fugitivus liba recuso,
     Pane egeo iam mellitis potiore placentis.

     What do you want from me? I live, I am my own master, I left behind the self same things you by common approval so eagerly covet, like the fugitive I have no right to the priest's blessed cake, but bread will quench my hunger over any honeyed delicacy.

3. (New Latin) ellipsis of placenta uterī: placenta

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	placenta	placentae
genitive	placentae	placentārum
dative	placentae	placentīs
accusative	placentam	placentās
ablative	placentā	placentīs
vocative	placenta	placentae

Descendants

• Aromanian: plãtsintã
• Romanian: plăcintă (see there for further descendants)

(Borrowed through New Latin:)

• → Asturian: placenta
• → Bulgarian: плацента (placenta)
• → Catalan: placenta
• → Czech: placenta
• → Dutch: placenta
• → English: placenta
• → French: placenta
• → Galician: placenta
• → German: Plazenta
• → Italian: placenta
• → Portuguese: placenta
• → Romanian: placentă
• → Russian: плацента (placenta)
• → Spanish: placenta
• → Vilamovian: płoc

Noun

placentā

1. ablative singular of placenta

Further reading

• “placenta”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “placenta”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “placenta”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “placenta”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Placenta cake on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta, from Latin placenta (“cake”), from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta), accusative of πλακόεις (plakóeis, “flat”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /plaˈsẽ.tɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /plaˈsẽ.tɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /plaˈsẽ.ta/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /plɐˈsẽ.tɐ/

Noun

placenta f (plural placentas)

1. (anatomy, botany) placenta

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta, from Latin placenta (“cake”), from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta). Doublet of palačinka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plǎt͡seːnta/
• Hyphenation: pla‧cen‧ta

Noun

plàcēnta f (Cyrillic spelling пла̀це̄нта)

1. (anatomy) placenta

   Synonym: pȍsteljica

Declension

Declension of placenta

	singular	plural
nominative	plàcēnta	placente
genitive	placente	plàcenātā/plàcēntī
dative	placenti	placentama
accusative	placentu	placente
vocative	placento	placente
locative	placenti	placentama
instrumental	placentom	placentama

Further reading

• “placenta”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈplat͡senta]

Noun

placenta f (genitive singular placenty, nominative plural placenty, genitive plural placent, declension pattern of žena)

1. placenta

Further reading

• “placenta”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from New Latin placenta, from Latin placenta (“cake”), from Ancient Greek πλακόεντα (plakóenta), accusative of πλακόεις (plakóeis, “flat”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaˈθenta/ [plaˈθẽn̪.t̪a] (Spain)
• IPA^(key): /plaˈsenta/ [plaˈsẽn̪.t̪a] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -enta
• Syllabification: pla‧cen‧ta

Noun

placenta f (plural placentas)

1. (anatomy, botany) placenta

Derived terms

• placenta previa
• placentario

Further reading

• “placenta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Swedish

Noun

placenta c

1. (anatomy) placenta

   Synonym: (more common) moderkaka

2. (botany) placenta

Declension

Declension of placenta

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	placenta	placentas
	definite	placentan	placentans
plural	indefinite	placentor	placentors
	definite	placentorna	placentornas

See also

• navelsträng (“umbilical cord”)

References

• placenta in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• placenta in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• placenta in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)