frenum

American  

[free-nuhm] / ˈfri nəm /

noun

Anatomy, Zoology.

PLURAL

frena

1. a fold of membrane that checks or restrains the motion of a part, such as the fold on the underside of the tongue.

---

frenum British  

/ ˈfriːnəm /

noun

1. a variant spelling (esp US) of fraenum

---

Etymology

Origin of frenum

First recorded in 1655–65; New Latin, from Latin fraenum, frēnum “bridle, restraint,” of disputed origin

Compare meaning

How does frenum compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• frenum vs. frenulum

Example Sentences

When I was 9, a small-town dentist decided that I had a space between my teeth because the frenum — the soft tissue connecting the lips and gums — had grown in the way, so he cut it out.

From New York Times

"I had to remove one where the person swished them around in their mouth and they ended up on each side of the lingual frenum—the fleshy piece of tissue underneath our tongue," Kaplan said.

From Salon

I forgot to close my mouth and ripped my frenum but no real damage.

From New York Times

“Sometimes it’s a function of having Daddy’s arches and Mommy’s teeth, which are too physically small for the arches,” said Dr. Paul Chalifoux, a dentist in private practice in Wellesley, Mass. In other cases, the labial frenum, the tissue band that connects the upper lip to the gums, attaches too close to the front teeth, resulting in a gap eventually.

From New York Times

Frenum glandulae penis curtum nimis incurvat penem, et ita vir impotens est.

From Project Gutenberg