fontanelle

fon·ta·nel also fon·ta·nelle  (fnt-nl)

n.

Any of the soft membranous gaps between the incompletely formed cranial bones of a fetus or an infant. Also called soft spot.

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[Middle English fontinel, from Old French fontanele, diminutive of fontaine, fountain; see fountain.]

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fontanelle or esp US fontanel

Noun

Anat a soft membranous gap between the bones of a baby's skull [Old French fontanele a little spring]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

fontanelle - any membranous gap between the bones of the cranium in an infant or fetus fontanel, soft spot child's body - the body of a human child orifice, porta, opening - an aperture or hole that opens into a bodily cavity; "the orifice into the aorta from the lower left chamber of the heart" braincase, brainpan, cranium - the part of the skull that encloses the brain anterior fontanelle - corresponds to the bregma when bones have ossified sphenoid fontanel, sphenoid fontanelle, sphenoidal fontanel, sphenoidal fontanelle - the irregularly shaped area on either side of the cranium where the frontal bone and the anterior tip of the parietal bone and the temporal bone and the greater wing of the sphenoid bone meet; corresponds to the pterion when bones have ossified