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cleft lip

cleft lip

1 2.7
A split in the upper lip that is there at birth
  • noun
  • /klɛft lɪp/
  • Specialized
translation icon : labio hendido
  • I guess because I was born with a cleft lip and palate.
  • cleft lip and palate
  • cleft lip and palate repair
  • children with cleft lip

And this is her take on cleft lip.

Examples

  • Patient C was born with a cleft lip and palate and was found to have pronounced hypermethioninaemia on neonatal screening.

    Academic text (1991)
  • Thank you very much for your idea. I do agree with you, but data for the prevalence of cleft lip and palate in India are available.

    Academic text (2016)
  • When I report that I have repaired eighteen cleft lips without a complication, my wife seems proud of me.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Children were excluded if their parents reported that the child had a persistent hearing loss, cleft lip/palate, or a developmental delay.

    Academic text (2015)
  • Particular attention was devoted to the presence of clefting, which was divided into two main groups: cleft lip and palate, and isolated cleft palate.

    Academic text (2015)
  • Multifactorial disorders often express as diabetes, cleft lip and palate, schizophrenia, spina bifida, and congenital hip dislocation.

    Academic text (2005)
  • Every year, 35,000 children in India are born with a cleft lip or palate.

  • Plus, all three were born with a cleft lip and one with a cleft palate.

  • The baby was a healthy girl, charming in spite of a cleft lip.

Synonyms

cheiloschisis
vscleft lip
  • Specialized
9.9

A split in the middle of the upper lip that a baby has from birth

is a birth split in the upper lip without stressing the exact middle

Surface Forms

cleft lip singular
cleft lips plural

Morphology

cleft + lip

The meaning is directly compositional: 'cleft' means a split and 'lip' names the mouth edge, so a learner who knows both words can infer a split in the lip. Although it is a medical term, the constituent meanings map straightforwardly and similar compounds exist in many languages, making it immediately understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Cleft lip comes from the word cleft (a 'split') and lip, describing a baby born with an opening in the upper lip. So it means 'a split in the lip from birth'.