Foramen

//fəˈɹeɪ.mɛn// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An opening, an orifice, or a short passage, especially in a bone.

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

  2. 2
    a natural opening or perforation through a bone or a membranous structure wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
aperturecavitychasmcheckclearingcleft

Example

More examples

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

Etymology

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

Related phrases

foramen magnumforamen spinosuminfraorbital foramenjugular foramenmental foramenobturator foramenoptic foramenstylomastoid foramenzygomaticofacial foramenzygomaticotemporal foramen

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