fenestra

American  

[fi-nes-truh] / fɪˈnɛs trə /

noun

fenestrae, plural fenestras plural

1. Anatomy, Zoology. a small opening or perforation, as in a bone, especially between the middle and inner ear.

2. Entomology. a transparent spot in an otherwise opaque surface, as in the wings of certain butterflies and moths.

3. Architecture. a windowlike opening.

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fenestra British  

/ fɪˈnɛstrə /

noun

1. biology a small opening in or between bones, esp one of the openings between the middle and inner ears

2. zoology a transparent marking or spot, as on the wings of moths

3. architect a window or window-like opening in the outside wall of a building

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fenestral
  adjective
• unfenestral
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fenestrae
  plural
• fenestras
  plural

Etymology

Origin of fenestra

1820–30; < New Latin, special use of Latin fenestra window, hole (in a wall)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fenestra fenestrae fenestras

In most meat-eating dinosaurs, a ridge of bone provides a roof over an opening in the skull in front of the eye sockets known as the antorbital fenestra.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 15, 2020

The spelling looks British, and the ancient British borrowed a good many words direct from the Latin, ffenstr for example, from fenestra, for window, doubtless a new idea to them.

From Through East Anglia in a Motor Car by Vincent, J. E. (James Edmund)

Along the posterior edge of the orbital fenestra, there is a narrow, dorsally projecting flange of the pterygoid.

From A New Order of Fishlike Amphibia From the Pennsylvanian of Kansas by Eaton, Theodore H. (Theodore Hildreth)

The posteroinferior vomerine process extends directly posteriorly and then angles sharply posterodorsally, enclosing an elliptical vomerine fenestra.

From Systematic Status of the Colubrid Snake, Leptodeira discolor Gunther by Duellman, William E.

The medial border of the orbital fenestra is missing, but apparently consisted of the pterygoid for at least the posterior half.

From A New Order of Fishlike Amphibia From the Pennsylvanian of Kansas by Eaton, Theodore H. (Theodore Hildreth)

Temporal fenestrae are post-orbital openings in the skull that allow muscles to expand and lengthen.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

Furthermore, their supratemporal fenestrae are proportionally small and become smaller during ontogeny.

From Scientific American ● May 24, 2012

Torosaurus’s is larger and flatter, with two large circular holes called fenestrae on either side of it.

From New York Times ● Mar. 5, 2012

Selective pressures causing the inception of temporal fenestrae differed from those causing the continued expansion of the fenestrae.

From The Adductor Muscles of the Jaw In Some Primitive Reptiles by Fox, Richard C.

The wide spaces left between the bands in front clearly represent the true nature of the fenestrae of other species.

From Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Commanded By the Late Captain Owen Stanley, R.N., F.R.S. Etc. During the Years 1846-1850. Including Discoveries and Surveys in New Guinea, the Louisiade Archipelago, Etc. to Which Is Added the Account of Mr. E.B. Kennedy's Expedition for the Exploration of the Cape York Peninsula. By John Macgillivray, F.R.G.S. Naturalist to the Expedition. — Volume 1 by MacGillivray, John

The usual explanation, which makes insertas an epithet transferred by a sort of hypallage from Luna to fenestras, is extremely violent, and makes the word little more than a repetition of se fundebat.

From The Aeneid of Virgil by Virgil