fetus
[fee-tuh s]
- (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.
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Also especially British, foe·tus.
Compare embryo(def 1).
Origin of fetus
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin fētus bringing forth of young, hence that which is born, offspring, young still in the womb, equivalent to fē- (v. base attested in L only in noun derivatives, as fēmina woman, fēcundus fecund, etc.; compare Greek thēsthai to suck, milk, Old High German tāan to suck, Old Irish denid (he) sucks) + -tus suffix of v. action
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fetuses
Contemporary Examples
As did their fetuses, including those of the four women who were in their last trimester.
The Only Thing More Terrifying Than Ebola Is Being Pregnant With EbolaKent Sepkowitz, Abby Haglage
October 2, 2014
To be sure, there are wackos on the anti-choice side, with their photos of fetuses and extreme rhetoric.
At early genetic testing, 99 percent of fetuses are normal when a woman is 35, and 97 percent at 40.
Each is tasked with eating two fetuses (tiny beaks, feathers, and claws included), but only one can finish the challenge.
A Christian activist had two fetuses called as witnesses—the latest sign of a nationwide attack on abortion rights.
Historical Examples
Fetuses deficient at their extremities, or have a duplicature of parts.
Zoonomia, Vol. IErasmus Darwin
In three fetuses the bacillus was found in the intestinal contents in pure culture; in one fetus it was isolated from the blood.
Contagious Abortion of CowsWard J. MacNeal
In the first guinea pig the two fetuses were practically fully developed and covered with hair.
Contagious Abortion of CowsWard J. MacNeal
Thus it seems unlikely that, if No. 11 conceived, she lost her fetuses in utero.
An Experimental Translocation of the Eastern Timber WolfThomas F. Weise
Fetuses were dead and were not appreciably larger than the one of the same clutch in the egg opened on July 31.
fetus
foetus
- 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 birthCompare embryo (def. 2)
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Word Origin
C14: from Latin: offspring, brood
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fetuses
fetus
n.
late 14c., "the young while in the womb or egg," from Latin fetus (often, incorrectly, foetus) "the bearing, bringing forth, or hatching of young," from Latin base *fe- "to generate, bear," also "to suck, suckle" (see fecund).
In Latin, fetus sometimes was transferred figuratively to the newborn creature itself, or used in a sense of "offspring, brood" (cf. Horace's "Germania quos horrida parturit Fetus"), but this was not the basic meaning. Also used of plants, in the sense of "fruit, produce, shoot." The spelling foetus is sometimes attempted as a learned Latinism, but it is not historic.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fetus
(fē′təs)- The unborn young of a viviparous vertebrate having a basic structural resemblance to the adult animal.
- In humans, the unborn young from the end of the eighth week after conception to the moment of birth.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
fetus
[fē′təs]
- 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.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
fetus
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.
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.