foramen

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin forāmen (“aperture or opening produced by boring”), from forō (“to pierce or bore”) +‎ -men (nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fəˈɹeɪ.mɛn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fəˈɹeɪ.mən/
• Rhymes: -eɪmən

Noun

foramen (plural foramina or foramens)

1. (anatomy) An opening, an orifice, or a short passage, especially in a bone.

   Hyponyms: alar foramen, foramen cecum, foramen magnum, foramen of Magendie, foramen of Monro, foramen of Morgagni, foramen of Winslow, foramen ovale, foramen triosseum, neuroforamen, parietal foramen, sphenopalatine foramen

   The skull contains a number of foramina through which arteries, veins, nerves, and other structures enter and exit.

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     There is — as I have explained — a slight want of alignment in the cervical vertebrae which has, as I perceive it, the effect of lessening the foramina through which the nerve roots emerge.

Derived terms

• foramen magnum
• foramen spinosum
• foraminal
• foraminate
• foraminous
• infraorbital foramen
• jugular foramen
• mental foramen
• obturator foramen
• optic foramen
• stylomastoid foramen
• zygomaticofacial foramen
• zygomaticotemporal foramen

Translations

an opening, an orifice, or a short passage, especially in a bone

• Arabic: ثُقْبَة f (ṯuqba)
• Catalan: foramen m, forat (ca) m
• Czech: otvor (cs) m
• French: foramen (fr) m
• German: Foramen n
• Macedonian: о́твор m (ótvor), ду́пка (mk) f (dúpka)
• Polish: otwór (pl) m
• Russian: отве́рстие (ru) n (otvérstije)
• Spanish: foramen (es) m

See also

• meatus

References

• “foramen”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “foramen”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• Foreman, foreman, name for

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-der.

Latin forō

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Italic *-mn̥

Latin -men

Latin forāmen

From forō (“to pierce or bore”) + -men (noun-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [fɔˈraː.mɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [foˈraː.men]

Noun

forāmen n (genitive forāminis); third declension

1. (Classical Latin, rare) an opening or aperture produced by boring; a hole
   • Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Marcus X:25:

     "Facilius est camelum per foramen acus transire, quam divitem intrare in regnum Dei"

     It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle's opening, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God

2. (transferred sense, Late Latin) an opening, hole, cave

   Synonym: caverna

Inflection

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	forāmen	forāmina
genitive	forāminis	forāminum
dative	forāminī	forāminibus
accusative	forāmen	forāmina
ablative	forāmine	forāminibus
vocative	forāmen	forāmina

Derived terms

• forāmen acūs
• forāminātus (adjective)
• forāminōsus (adjective)

Related terms

• forātus
• forō

Descendants

Descendants

• Asturian: furame; furacu, buracu, furáu
• Catalan: forat
• → English: foramen
• → Italian: forame
• Galician: furaco
• Portuguese: buraco; → forame, forâmen
• → Romanian: foramen
• → Spanish: foramen

References

• “foramen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “foramen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "foramen", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “foramen”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-der.

Latin forō

Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥

Proto-Italic *-mn̥

Latin -men

Latin forāmenbor.

Spanish foramen

Borrowed from Latin forāmen (“aperture, opening”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /foˈɾamen/ [foˈɾa.mẽn]
• Rhymes: -amen
• Syllabification: fo‧ra‧men

Noun

foramen m (plural forámenes)

1. (anatomy) foramen

Derived terms

• foramen ciático mayor
• foramen espinoso
• foramen infraorbitario
• foramen intervertebral
• foramen magno
• foramen oval
• foramen redondo mayor
• foramen vertebral

Related terms

• foraminífero
• horadar
• perforar

Further reading

• “foramen”, 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