fetal

especially British, foe·tal

[feet-l]

adjective

Embryology.

1. of, relating to, or having the character of a fetus.

fetal

/ ˈfiːtəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling a fetus

Other Word Forms

• postfetal adjective
• postfoetal adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of fetal¹

First recorded in 1735–45; fet(us) + -al ¹

Example Sentences

Thyroid hormones supplied by the mother play an important role in fetal neurodevelopment.

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But the photo that remains Leibovitz’s most iconic to date is the January 1981 cover of Rolling Stone featuring a nude, fetal John Lennon wrapped around Yoko Ono.

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When scientists studied women with such diseases, they often found fetal cells in the affected organs: the skin in scleroderma, the liver in biliary cirrhosis, the joints in rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

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In collaboration with partners including the University of Sydney, they profiled nearly 680,000 cells from the fetal brain to chart the full cellular landscape.

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Researchers studying three groups of people -- individuals with autism, those with fetal alcohol syndrome, and a "neurotypical" control group -- found that cognitive ability strongly influenced how well participants understood speech in noisy conditions.

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