English

Alternative forms

• synciput [17th C.]

Noun

sinciput ‎(plural sincipita or sinciputs)

1. (chiefly anatomy) The front part of the head or skull (as contradistinct from occiput).
   • 1964, International Abstracts of Surgery, Volume 119, page 629,

     The cranial anomalies occurred either in the occiput or the sinciput, approximately twice as often in the occiput as in the sinciput.

     Such lesions have been considered to be inoperable when they involved the sinciput.

   • 1997, Robert K. Creasy, Management of Labor and Delivery, page 375,

     Between these two extremes lie the sinciput presentation and the brow presentation. Thus there are four distinct attitudes: vertex, sinciput, brow, and face (Figure 15-7).

   • 2003, Sara Wickham, Midwifery: Best Practice, Volume 1, page 79,

     I learnt to develop a ‘feel’ for the sinciput and the occiput as these landmarks feel different abdominally, and also their ‘whereabouts’ in relationship to the pelvic brim. Therefore, when descent and flexion were taking place, I learnt to ascertain how the positions of the sinciput and occiput would change in relationship to each other and in relationship to the pelvic brim.

Synonyms

• (front part of the head or skull): bregma

Related terms

• sincipital

References

• “Sinciput” listed on page 73 of volume IX, part I (Si–St) of A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles [1st ed., 1919]
• “sinciput” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary [2nd ed., 1989]

French

Etymology

Borrowing from Latin sinciput ‎(“half a head”; “smoked hog’s cheek or half-jowl”; (transferred senses): “brain”, “head”), whence English sinciput.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ̃.si.pyt/

Noun

sinciput m ‎(plural sinciputs)

1. (anatomy) sinciput

See also

• front

Latin

Etymology

sēmi ‎(“half”) +‎ caput ‎(“head”); compare Ancient Greek ἡμικεφάλιον ‎(hēmikephálion), ἡμίκρανον ‎(hēmíkranon), ἡμικέφαλον ‎(hēmiképhalon)

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈsin.ki.put/

Noun

sinciput n ‎(genitive sincipitis); third declension

1. half a head
2. a cheek or half the jowl of a smoked hog
3. (transferred senses):
   1. the brain
   2. (loosely) the head

Inflection

Third declension neuter.

Descendants

• English: sinciput
• French: sinciput

References

• sinciput in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• sinciput in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “sinciput”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.