noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A soft membraneous spot on the head of a baby due to incomplete fusion of the cranial bones.
2. 2
   any membranous gap between the bones of the cranium in an infant or fetus wordnet
3. 3
   A structural component of some woodwind instruments, such as recorders and shawms, resembling a barrel with holes bored into it, designed to protect the keywork and to allow the sound to project.

Synonyms

All synonyms

soft spotfontanelfonticulussoft spot

Example

More examples

"The baby's fontanelle was soft."

Etymology

Borrowed from French fontanelle, from Old French fontenelle, a diminutive of fontaine (“a fountain, a spring”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.