placenta

Meanings

1. 1nouncountablemedicalbiology

   The organ that forms inside a pregnant mammal and feeds the baby before birth.

   Grammar: Countable: 'a placenta', 'the placenta', plural 'placentas' or 'placentae'.

   Patterns

   • the placenta develops
   • deliver the placenta
   • the placenta attaches to something

   The placenta supplies oxygen and nutrients to the growing baby.

   After the birth, the doctor checked that the whole placenta had come out.

2. 2nouncountablebiologyspecialist

   The part of a plant where seeds are attached inside the ovary.

   Grammar: Used in botany; plural 'placentas' or the technical 'placentae'.

   Patterns

   • the placenta of a flower
   • seeds attached to the placenta

   In many flowers the seeds stay fixed to the placenta as they ripen.

   Botanists describe where the placenta sits inside the ovary.

Word forms

Common combinations

deliver the placenta

The midwife waited a few minutes to deliver the placenta.

the placenta attaches

In a normal pregnancy the placenta attaches high on the uterus wall.

placental tissue

The sample contained placental tissue from the mother.

the placenta develops

The placenta develops early in pregnancy.

Synonyms and how they differ

afterbirth

'Afterbirth' is the everyday word for the placenta when it comes out after delivery; it is not used for the plant part.

Word family

placental adjective

Relating to the placenta, or describing mammals that grow one.

placental mammal noun

A mammal whose young develop with a placenta, such as a human or dog.

Commonly confused: placenta or placentia?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “placenta”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words