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Synonyms

lanugo

American  
[luh-noo-goh, -nyoo-] / ləˈnu goʊ, -ˈnyu- /

noun

Biology.

plural

lanugos

  1. a coat of delicate, downy hairs, especially that with which the human fetus or a newborn infant is covered.

lanugo British  
/ ləˈnjuːɡəʊ, ləˈnjuːdʒɪnəs /

noun

  1. a layer of fine hairs, esp the covering of the human fetus before birth

"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
lanugo Scientific  
/ lə-no̅o̅′gō /

  1. A covering of fine, soft hair or hairlike structures, as on a leaf, insect, or human fetus.

Other Word Forms

  • lanuginous adjective
  • lanuginousness noun

Etymology

Origin of lanugo

1670–80; < Latin lānūgō wooliness, down, derivative of lāna wool

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The fuzz with which some babies are born is called lanugo.

From Washington Post • Jun. 23, 2022

In the beginning of life, there was you and your lanugo.

From Slate • Sep. 24, 2014

Like ringed seals, newborn ribbon seals have a coat of lanugo and cannot survive submersion in icy water until after they’ve formed the blubber layer.

From Washington Times • Jul. 11, 2014

A silky hair called lanugo also covers the skin during weeks 17–20, but it is shed as the fetus continues to grow.

From Textbooks • Jun. 19, 2013

At about the eighth month of intra-uterine existence, a good deal of this lanugo is lost, to be replaced on the head and eyebrows by a crop of thick, coarse, pigmented real hair.

From The Glands Regulating Personality by Berman, Louis, M.D.

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.