feto-, fet-, feti-, foeto-, foet- +

Pertaining to the absence of a fetus, or not having an unborn child, by the end of the eighth week after conception to the moment of birth: The doctor told Estelle that she still had an afetal condition and so she was lacking a baby inside her womb.

A pattern of permanent and often devastating birth-defect syndromes caused by maternal consumption of alcohol during pregnancy; fetal alcohol spectrum disorder: The main effect of alcohol fetalpathy is brain damage which can be caused during any trimester, because the fetus's brain continues to develop throughout the entire pregnancy.

The brain damage that is a result of alcohol fetopathy is often accompanied by, and reflected in, distinctive facial stigmata or characteristics which are indicative of a disease or abnormalities.

1. Regarding someone who is lacking in wholesome vigor; degenerate: The newspaper presented an article about Mr. Smith being an effete snob and very decadent.
2. Concerning an individual who is exhausted of vigor or energy; worn out: After teaching teenagers for 40 years Mr. Hathaway was effete and totally spent.
3. Pertaining to a living being that is unable to produce; sterile: Jim's old feeble cat was effete and unprolific.
4. Marked by excessive self-indulgence and moral decay: Greg lived a decadent and effete life of excessive spending and no sense of responsibility.
5. Etymology: From Latin effetus (feminine, effeta) "unproductive, worn out (with bearing offspring)"; literally, "that has given birth" from ex- "out" plus fetus, "childbearing, offspring". The sense of "exhausted" is from 1662; that of "morally exhausted" from 1790, led to "decadent" in the nineteenth century.

1. A young deer: Sally suddenly saw an unweaned fawn in the tall grass and it was less than a year old.
2. Etymology: from Old French faon, "young animal"; from Vulgar Latin fetonem, accusative of feto, from Latin fetus, "an offspring".

The following fawn, fawning definitions as a verb are not related etymologically to the above fawn:

1. To seek attention or to try to win favor by flattery and obsequious behavior: The dog was fawning all over him when he came home from work.
2. To attempt to please someone by showing enthusiastic affection: Little Susi was fawning on her mother and doing little chores voluntarily because she wanted to have an ice cream later on that day.
3. Etymology: from Old English fagnian, "rejoice"; from fægen, "glad"; used in Middle English to refer to expressions of delight, especially a dog wagging its tail, hence "to act slavishly".

The capacity of a fetus to survive outside the womb following birth: Fetal viability is dependent mainly on the organ maturity or development of the baby and of the environmental circumstances.

Historically, a fetus was thought to be capable of living after the 20th gestational week. But, in reality. a baby does not have much of a chance to survive when it is born before 24 completed weeks of gestation.

A reference to the development of the offspring of an animal before birth: When at the gynaecologist's Mary could see her little unborn baby in the ultrasound image, all curled up in a fetal position.

When Jack was camping, he got so cold in his sleeping bag that he curved himself up into a fetal position with his legs pulled up and his arms closed around his chest, and tried to stay as warm as possible.

The retention into adult life of a bodily characterostic which, at some earlier stage of evolutionary history, was actually only infantile and was rapidly lost as the organism attained maturity: The skull of a human indicates fetalization, or fetalism, when comparing it to the gorilla's because it is similar to the skull of an infant gorilla instead of the large and elaborate adult skull.

The development of a fetus within the uterus; pregnancy: Fetation is the time between conception and birth when a mammal carries its unborn baby in its uterus.

Concerning the action of destroying a fetus or causing an abortion: A feticial operation indicates the intended termination of the life of an unborn child in a woman.

1. The intentional destruction or killing of the fetus; aborticide: Feticide, as a legal term, refers to the deliberate or incidental killing of a fetus as a result of a human act, such as a punch or kick in the abdomen of a pregnant woman.
2. The intentional destruction of a human fetus: Feticide can also be caused by using an agent or drug, and can be extremely dangerous to the mother.

Feticide does not refer to the death of a fetus from entirely natural causes, or through the spontaneous abortion of a pregnancy where the life of the fetus could not be maintained artificially ex utero.

The promotion of proper growth and development of a fetus or unborn child which is still in the uterus: Tricksy was so happy that she finally found a book regarding feticulture because she was very interested in eating and doing the right things during her pregnancy.

Descriptive of a living thing that produces offspring: All fetiferous animals give birth to their young, or when birds hatch, because nature has endowed them with the desire to reproduce their species.

Radiography of the fetus within the uterus: Fetography is a procedure that has been virtually replaced by ultrasound.

A specialist in the field of medicine involving the study, diagnosis, and treatment of the fetus: Besides studying to become a midwife, Janet also wanted to become a fetologist and know as much as possible about unborn babies.

A field of medicine involving the study, diagnosis, and treatment of the fetus within the uterus: Fetology is a subspecialty of obstetrics and gynecology devoted to the study of the obstetrical, medical, and surgical complications of pregnancy.