Standard Lemma guide

fetal

adj · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈfitl̩/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -iːtəl
  • CMU ARPABET: F IY1 T AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: embryology, medicine, sciences

Examples

  • fetal circulation
  • fetal membranes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

In the fetal position.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

adjective

Meaning 3

of or relating to a fetus

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • fetal development

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: foetal

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From fetus + -al.

Across languages

Translations

16 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: fetal — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Chinese Mandarin: 胎兒的 /胎儿的 (tāiér de) — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Czech: plodový — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Czech: fetální — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Esperanto: feta — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Finnish: sikiö- — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • French: fœtal — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Galician: fetal — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • German: fötal — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • German: fetal — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Italian: fetale — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Occitan: fetal — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Portuguese: fetal — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Russian: эмбриона́льный (embrionálʹnyj) — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Russian: заро́дышевый (zaródyševyj) — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
  • Spanish: fetal — pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus
Real reading context

fetal in complete knowledge articles