fontanelle
1
9.6
- noun
- /ˌfɒntəˈnɛl/
- Specialized
:
fontanela
- Well, mind his little fontanelle.
Examples
-
The ostium was widened posteriorly into the posterior fontanelle.
Academic text (2005) -
At the junction of the fontanelle and the bone, the mucosa was taken down by blunt Freer elevator dissection.
Academic text (2005) -
Keep an open mind, if not an open fontanelle, that's my motto!
Blog text (18) -
A bulging fontanelle is seen in one-third of cases and usually occurs late during the course of illness.
Academic text (1995) -
"It is generally difficult to grasp shout; that is, you cannot hold it in your hands now either because it slides through us as if it were the tip of a pyramid sliding straight into the fontanelle.
Fiction book (1991) -
Once the brahmaranddra (also located at the fontanelle) is opened, the highest levels of initiation are achieved, just as in shamanism.
Academic text (1990) -
Suspected cases of meningitis were defined as sudden onset of fever with a stiff neck or, in infants, a bulging fontanelle.
Academic text (2014) -
As he got older, he started to just fully embrace his fewer follicled fontanelle (don't question the medical accuracy, just love the alliteration), and kept his hair short all around, rocking the receded horseshoe.
Blog text (20) -
I am left staring at the back of his head, the bald spot that is the tonsure of early middle age and was once the fontanelle of an infant, and I think—what else could I think—that I don't care what kind of life Isabel leads, so long as she gets to lead one.
Fiction book (1993) -
Doctors often check a baby's fontanelle to assess their growth and development.
Synonyms
2
9.2
A soft spot on a baby's head where the skull bones do not yet meet
2
6.1
A soft area on a baby's head where the skull bones have not joined
A soft gap at the front of a baby's skull that closes as the bones join
Soft spot near the temple on a baby's head where several skull bones meet
A soft spot on the side of a baby's head where skull bones meet
The soft spot on the side of a baby's head where several skull bones meet
Compounds
- Specialized
A soft gap at the front of a baby's skull that closes as the bones join
Surface Forms
Etymology
Fontanelle comes from an old French word meaning 'little fountain' and is the same root as the English word fountain. People thought the soft spot looked like a small spring, so fontanelle now means the soft spot on a baby's head that lets the brain and skull grow.