fetal
/ˈfitl̩/adjective
fetal is spelled F-E-T-A-L: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,122nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, fetal means “Pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in fetal?
| Letters | 5: F-E-T-A-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.5 times per million words; the 17,122nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is fetal?
Fetal appears 2.5 times per million words in written English, the 17,122nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce fetal?
- /ˈfitl̩/
Fetal has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-fetal.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with fetal
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: foetal.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of fetal
- foetal
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fetal mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus.
fetal circulation
- 2
informalIn the fetal position.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fetal in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does fetal come from?
From fetus + -al.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).