fetus

[ fee-tuhs ]

noun

, Embryology.

, plural fe·tus·es.

1. (used chiefly of viviparous mammals) the young of an animal in the womb or egg, especially in the later stages of development when the body structures are in the recognizable form of its kind, in humans after the end of the second month of gestation.

fetus

/ ˈfiːtəs /

noun

1. the embryo of a mammal in the later stages of development, when it shows all the main recognizable features of the mature animal, esp a human embryo from the end of the second month of pregnancy until birth Compare embryo

fetus

/ fē′təs /

1. The unborn offspring of a mammal at the later stages of its development, especially a human from eight weeks after fertilization to its birth. In a fetus, all major body organs are present.

fetus

1. The embryo of an animal that bears its young alive (rather than laying eggs ). In humans, the embryo is called a fetus after all major body structures have formed; this stage is reached about sixty days after fertilization .

Word History and Origins

Origin of fetus¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin fētus “bringing forth of young,” hence “that which is born, offspring, young still in the womb,” equivalent to fē- (verb base attested in Latin only in noun derivatives, as fēmina “woman,” fēcundus “fertile,” fīlius “son,” fīlia “daughter,” etc.; compare Greek thēsthai “to suck, milk,” Old High German tāan “to suck,” Old Irish denid “(he) sucks,” Slavic (Polish) doić “to milk” + -tus suffix of verb action; fecund

Word History and Origins

Origin of fetus¹

C14: from Latin: offspring, brood

Example Sentences

The incident happened at Hamad international airport in Doha earlier this month after a fetus was discovered in an airport bathroom.

From No Straight News

About 1 percent happen after the fetus reaches the point of viability.

From Washington Post

When a mother’s microbes were missing, fetuses had shorter and fewer axons extending from the brain’s “relay station” to the cortex, Vuong says.

From Science News

Vuong and her team looked at the brains of fetuses from pregnant mice — some with their usual gut bugs, some raised without microbes and others ridded of their gut bacteria with antibiotics.

From Science News

Those abnormalities potentially impact oxygen and nutrient delivery to the fetus.

From No Straight News

Case in point: when Loertscher was brought to court in Wisconsin, her 14-week-old fetus was granted a lawyer, but she was not.

From The Daily Beast

“It is well established that a fetus is not a ‘person’; rather it is a sui generis organism,” the ruling stated.

From The Daily Beast

They hold signs depicting a fetus with a hanging umbilical cord.

From The Daily Beast

A few hours after the prolonged exposure to Duncan, Williams and her fetus died of overwhelming Ebola infection.

From The Daily Beast

But she expressed no regrets mainly because of her concerns about how much her fetus suffered before termination.

From The Daily Beast

Normally, erythroblasts are present only in the blood of the fetus and of very young infants.

From Project Gutenberg

The rudimentary intellect of the fetus is the uninterrupted continuation of the intellect in the preceding existence.

From Project Gutenberg

In case of involuntary abortion, which is comparatively frequent, the fetus is hung or buried under the house.

From Project Gutenberg

It is likewise found in the new-born and in the fetus.57 Its action, however, like its chemical composition, is markedly specific.

From Project Gutenberg

Dr. Abrams also has investigated methods whereby the sex of the fetus may be diagnosed.

From Project Gutenberg