# foramen
## English
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /fəˈɹeɪ.mɛn/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /fəˈɹeɪ.mən/
* Rhymes: -eɪmən

### Noun

foramen (plural foramina or foramens)
* (anatomy) An opening, an orifice, or a short passage, especially in a bone.
    Hyponyms: alar foramen, foramen cecum, foramen magnum, foramen of Magendie, foramen of Monro, foramen of Morgagni, foramen of Winslow, foramen ovale, foramen triosseum, neuroforamen, parietal foramen, sphenopalatine foramen
    The skull contains a number of foramina through which arteries, veins, nerves, and other structures enter and exit.
** 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:That is better! There is - as I have explained - a slight want of alignment in the cervical vertebrae which has, as I perceive it, the effect of lessening the foramina through which the nerve roots emerge.

#### Derived terms

* foramen spinosum
* foraminal
* foraminate
* foraminous
* infraorbital foramen
* jugular foramen
* mental foramen
* obturator foramen
* optic foramen
* stylomastoid foramen
* zygomaticofacial foramen
* zygomaticotemporal foramen

#### Translations
### See also

* meatus

### References

* “foramen”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “foramen”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

### Anagrams

* Foreman, foreman, name for

## Latin
### Etymology

From forō (“to pierce or bore”) +‎ -men (noun-forming suffix).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /foˈraː.men/, [fɔˈräːmɛn]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /foˈra.men/, [foˈräːmen]

### Noun

forāmen n (genitive forāminis); third declension
* (Classical Latin, rare) an opening or aperture produced by boring; a hole
* (transferred sense, Late Latin) an opening, hole, cave
    Synonym: caverna
* This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!

#### Inflection

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

#### Derived terms

* forāmen acūs
* forāminātus (adjective)
* forāminōsus (adjective)

#### Related terms

* forātus
* forō

#### Descendants

* Asturian: furame; furacu, buracu, furáu
* Catalan: forat
* → English: foramen
* → Italian: forame
* Galician: furaco
* Portuguese: buraco; → forame, forâmen
→ Romanian: foramen
* → Spanish: foramen

### References

* “foramen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “foramen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* foramen in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* foramen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin forāmen (“aperture, opening”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /foˈɾamen/ [foˈɾa.mẽn]
* Rhymes: -amen
* Syllabification: fo‧ra‧men

### Noun

foramen m (plural forámenes)
* (anatomy) foramen

#### Derived terms

* foramen ciático mayor
* foramen espinoso
* foramen infraorbitario
* foramen intervertebral
* foramen magno
* foramen oval
* foramen redondo mayor
* foramen vertebral

#### Related terms

* foraminífero
* horadar
* perforar

### Further reading

* “foramen”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10