Fetus Meaning
/ˈfiːtəs/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn unborn or unhatched vertebrate showing signs of the mature animal.
nounA human embryo after the eighth week of gestation.
Sentence Examples
Since when have you been able to feel the movement of the fetus?
The point at which an embryo becomes a fetus has apparently been chosen arbitrarily.
When did you start feeling the movements of the fetus?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The doctor monitored the heartbeat of the healthy ____ in the womb.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
An ultrasound scan can provide detailed images of the ____ as it develops throughout the entire pregnancy.
Word Origin & History
A learned borrowing from Latin fētus (“offspring”). Doublet of fawn.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Though scientists do not know how stress affects gestation, Fukuda theorizes that the vulnerability of Y-bearing sperm cells, male embryos and/or male fetuses to stress is why “subtle significant changes in sex ratios” occur. […] The factors that filter out who “gets through” from conception to birth include chromosomal or genetic abnormalities of the fetus or the mother’s stress response to changes in her environment, Catalano said."
— 2019 January 23, Susan Scutti, “Climate change will affect gender ratio among newborns, scientists say”, in CNN:
"The real essence of that or any other sort of substances, it is evident, we know not; and therefore are so undetermined in our nominal essences, which we make ourselves, that, if several men were to be asked concerning some oddly-shaped fœtus, as soon as born, whether it were a man or no, it is past doubt one should meet with different answers."
— 1959 [1689], John Locke, chapter 6, in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, vol. 2, New York, N.Y.: Dover Publications, Inc., page 77:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The doctor monitored the heartbeat of the healthy ____ in the womb.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
An ultrasound scan can provide detailed images of the ____ as it develops throughout the entire pregnancy.