fetal

See also: fétal

English

Alternative forms

• foetal (Commonwealth)
• fœtal (dated)
• fætal, phoetal, phœtal (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

English fetus

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-der.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālisbor.

Old French -albor.

▲

Latin -ālis

Old French -elbor.

▲

Latin -ālisbor.

Middle English -al

English -al

English fetal

From fetus + -al.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfitl̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːtəl

Adjective

fetal (not comparable)

1. (embryology) Pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus.

   Coordinate terms: gametal, zygotal, blastocystic, blastular, embryonal, embryonary, embryonic, embryonical

   fetal circulation

   fetal membranes

2. (somewhat informal) In the fetal position.
   • 2000, Eben Carlson, The Love Artist:

     I was fetal on my left side, unable to move. My legs fell off my queen-sized bed and were propped up by a rocking chair.

   • 2006, Jennifer Hanselman, Party of Nine:

     By 12:00 when Keith arrived home with Connor, I was fetal on the couch and praying for a quick death.

   • 2017, Ben Sanders, By Any Means:

     Gage had gone foetal: knees raised, chin ducked , arms shielding his head.

Usage notes

The form fetal is preferred in North America and in the scientific community, whereas foetal is still commonly used in Commonwealth nations.

Derived terms

• afetal
• early fetal demise
• embryofetal
• extrafetal
• fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
• fetal alcohol syndrome
• fetally
• fetalness
• fetal position
• fetofetal
• go fetal
• intrafetal
• maternofetal
• multifetal
• nonfetal
• oncofetal
• Pinard fetal stethoscope
• postfetal
• uterofetal

Translations

pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus

• Catalan: fetal (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 胎兒的 / 胎儿的 (zh) (tāiér de)

• Czech: plodový, fetální (cs)
• Esperanto: feta
• Finnish: sikiö-
• French: fœtal (fr)
• Galician: fetal (gl)
• German: fötal, fetal (de)
• Italian: fetale (it)
• Occitan: fetal
• Portuguese: fetal (pt)
• Russian: эмбриона́льный (ru) (embrionálʹnyj), заро́дышевый (ru) (zaródyševyj)
• Spanish: fetal

See also

• intrauterine
• prenatal

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “fetal”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• E flat, E-flat, aleft, alfet, e flat, e-flat

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [fəˈtal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [feˈtal]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

• Homophone: fatal (Balearic, Central)

Adjective

fetal m or f (masculine and feminine plural fetals)

1. fetal

Related terms

• fetus

Further reading

• “fetal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Galician

Adjective

fetal m or f (plural fetais)

1. fetal

Related terms

• feto

Further reading

• “fetal”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [feˈtaːl]
• Hyphenation: fe‧tal

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Adjective

fetal (strong nominative masculine singular fetaler, not comparable)

1. fetal

   Synonym: fötal

Declension

Positive forms of fetal (uncomparable)

number & gender		singular			plural
		masculine	feminine	neuter
predicative		er ist fetal	sie ist fetal	es ist fetal	sie sind fetal
strong declension (without article)	nominative	fetaler	fetale	fetales	fetale
	genitive	fetalen	fetaler	fetalen	fetaler
	dative	fetalem	fetaler	fetalem	fetalen
	accusative	fetalen	fetale	fetales	fetale
weak declension (with definite article)	nominative	der fetale	die fetale	das fetale	die fetalen
	genitive	des fetalen	der fetalen	des fetalen	der fetalen
	dative	dem fetalen	der fetalen	dem fetalen	den fetalen
	accusative	den fetalen	die fetale	das fetale	die fetalen
mixed declension (with indefinite article)	nominative	ein fetaler	eine fetale	ein fetales	(keine) fetalen
	genitive	eines fetalen	einer fetalen	eines fetalen	(keiner) fetalen
	dative	einem fetalen	einer fetalen	einem fetalen	(keinen) fetalen
	accusative	einen fetalen	eine fetale	ein fetales	(keine) fetalen

Further reading

• “fetal” in Duden online
• “fetal”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[1] (in German)

Hausa

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fèː.tál/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [ɸèː.tál]

Ideophone

fḕtal

1. (of a space) open

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /feˈtaw/ [feˈtaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɨˈtal/ [fɨˈtaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɨˈtal/ [fɨˈtaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɨˈta.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: fe‧tal

Adjective

fetal m or f (plural fetais)

1. fetal (pertaining to fetuses)

Related terms

• feto

Further reading

• “fetal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “fetal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French fœtal.

Adjective

fetal m or n (feminine singular fetală, masculine plural fetali, feminine/neuter plural fetale)

1. fetal

Declension

Declension of fetal

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	fetal		fetală	fetali	fetale
	definite	fetalul		fetala	fetalii	fetalele
genitive- dative	indefinite	fetal		fetale	fetali	fetale
	definite	fetalului		fetalei	fetalilor	fetalelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feˈtal/ [feˈt̪al]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: fe‧tal

Adjective

fetal m or f (masculine and feminine plural fetales)

1. fetal

Related terms

• feto

Further reading

• “fetal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025