Meanings
plural frenula · plural frenulums · alternative hypercorrect fraenulum · alternative hypercorrect frænulum
- anatomyA small fold or ridge of tissue that supports or restrains the motion of the part to which it is attached, in particular a fold of skin beneath the tongue, or between the lip and the gum.
Humans have three oral frenulums: beneath the tongue, between the upper lip and gum, and between the lower lip and gum.
Synonyms: frenum
- biologyA bristle or row of bristles on the edge of the hindwings of some lepidoptera which unites the wings by interlocking with a catch on the posterior part of the forewings.
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA small fold or ridge of tissue that supports or restrains the motion of the part to which it is attached, in particular a fold of skin beneath the tongue, or between the lip and the gum.
nounSuch a ridge of tissue connecting the foreskin to the glans on the underside of the penis; the penile frenulum.
Origin
- New Latinfrēnulum
- Englishfrenulum
Borrowed from New Latin frēnulum, diminutive of frēnum (“a bridle, curb, bit”).
More words from New Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan fre, tel de la llengua
- fresmall fold of tissue
- tel de la llenguasmall fold of tissue
Chinese Mandarin 繫帶 /系带
- 繫帶 /系带 (jìdài)small fold of tissue
Czech uzdička
- uzdičkasmall fold of tissue
Dutch tongriem
- tongriemsmall fold of tissue
Esperanto frenulo
- frenulosmall fold of tissue
Finnish frenulum, kiinnityspoimu
- frenulumsmall fold of tissue
- kiinnityspoimusmall fold of tissue
- kielijännesmall fold of tissue
French frein, filet
- freinsmall fold of tissue
- filetsmall fold of tissue
German Frenulum, some of them are also called Bändchen
- Frenulumsmall fold of tissue
- some of them are also called Bändchensmall fold of tissue
- most of them have specific compoundssmall fold of tissue
Greek χαλινός
- χαλινός (chalinós)small fold of tissue
Icelandic haft
- haftsmall fold of tissue
Italian frenulo
- frenulosmall fold of tissue
Japanese 小帯
- 小帯 (shōtai)small fold of tissue
Korean 소대
- 소대 (sodae)small fold of tissue
Polish wędzidełko
- wędzidełkosmall fold of tissue
Portuguese freio, frénulo
- freiosmall fold of tissue
- frénulosmall fold of tissue
Russian узде́чка
- узде́чка (uzdéčka)small fold of tissue
Spanish frenillo
- frenillosmall fold of tissue
Swedish frenulum, penissträng
- frenulumsmall fold of tissue
- penissträngsmall fold of tissue
- ollonsträngsmall fold of tissue
Welsh ffrwynig, ffrwynyn
- ffrwynigsmall fold of tissue
- ffrwynynsmall fold of tissue
Cite this entry
frenulum. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frenulum
“frenulum.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frenulum. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “frenulum,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/frenulum.
Source: frenulum on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.