fetus
noun
Simple meaning
An unborn or unhatched vertebrate in the later stages of development showing the main recognizable features of the mature animal.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
feetuhsSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfitəs
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
An unborn or unhatched vertebrate in the later stages of development showing the main recognizable features of the mature animal
A human embryo after the eighth week of gestation.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: An unborn or unhatched vertebrate in the later stages of development showing the main recognizable features of the mature animal
Used this way, fetus is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fetus
- “During her check-up, the ultrasound showed the growing fetus moving around.”noun
Share your sentence
Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Bacteria that cause abortion in sheep.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: unborn
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “fetus” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.