fontanelle
noun
fontanelle is a noun meaning “A soft membraneous spot on the head of a baby due to incomplete fusion of the cranial bones” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-O-N-T-A-N-E-L-L-E, and it appears about once in every 16 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of fontanelle is fontanelles.
What does fontanelle mean?
noun
- 1
A soft membraneous spot on the head of a baby due to incomplete fusion of the cranial bones.
- 2
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of fontanelle
- fontanelles plural
- fontanel
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is fontanelle?
Fontanelle appears about once in every 16 million words in written English, the 119,826th 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).
Fontanelle in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense soft spot on a baby's head:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | fontanelle |
| German | Fontanelle |
| Portuguese | fontanela, moleira |
| Spanish | fontanela, mollera |
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 fontanelle come from?
Borrowed from French fontanelle, from Old French fontenelle, a diminutive of fontaine (“fountain, spring”) + -elle, from Late Latin fontāna, from Latin fontānus, from font- + -ānus. By surface analysis, font + -an + -elle.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).