# fetus

Pronunciation: US say "FEE-tuhs" /ˈfitəs/; UK

## Noun

1. An unborn or unhatched young animal that has developed its basic body form, especially a human more than eight weeks after conception.
   - Simple: An unborn baby or young animal that has formed its main body parts.
   - _Researchers are studying how a mother's diet in late pregnancy affects the growing fetus._
   - _The scan showed two fetuses, each with a strong heartbeat._

## Noun

2. A newborn infant. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A baby that has just been born.

## Origin

Fawn is a doublet of this word, which English borrowed in learned use from Latin fētus, meaning "offspring."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/fetus (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).