Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of the soft membranous gaps between the incompletely formed cranial bones of a fetus or an infant.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Med.), obsolete An issue or artificial ulcer for the discharge of humors from the body.
- noun (Anat.) One of the membranous intervals between the incompleted angles of the parietal and neighboring bones of a fetal or young skull; -- so called because it exhibits a rhythmical pulsation.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Alternative spelling of
fontanelle .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any membranous gap between the bones of the cranium in an infant or fetus
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word fontanel.
Examples
-
FEIGIN: You have a spot called the fontanel but the thickness of the skull is minimal and it ` s easily fractured with not a whole lot of force.
-
The fontanel is the soft spot on the top of a newborn baby's head.
Chapter 8 1993
-
A roofline so soft and round it practically has a fontanel; huge and slightly unfocused headlamps; a grille that seems to be missing a binkie.
For the Cheerleader in Everyone Dan Neil 2011
-
Being so frightfully concerned for her, I refused to touch the soft fontanel at the top of her head for any reason.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: New Moms Jack Canfield 2011
-
Being so frightfully concerned for her, I refused to touch the soft fontanel at the top of her head for any reason.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: New Moms Jack Canfield 2011
-
The larger fontanel usually closes by eighteen months after the birth; the smaller one closes by two to six months.
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn Penny Simkin 2010
-
A large, diamond-shaped fontanel is on the top front portion of her skull, and a smaller, triangle-shaped one is at the back.
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn Penny Simkin 2010
-
When a child is born, that part of the skull—the fontanel—is still soft and not yet closed.
Spiritual Teachings of the Avatar Jeffrey Armstrong 2010
-
The larger fontanel usually closes by eighteen months after the birth; the smaller one closes by two to six months.
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn Penny Simkin 2010
-
A large, diamond-shaped fontanel is on the top front portion of her skull, and a smaller, triangle-shaped one is at the back.
Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn Penny Simkin 2010
seanahan commented on the word fontanel
Also spelled fontanelle.
October 28, 2007