Lanugo
Downy hair on the body of the fetus and newborn baby. It is the first hair to be produced by the fetal hair follicles, usually appearing on the fetus at about five months of gestation. It is very fine, soft, and usually unpigmented. Although lanugo is normally shed before birth around seven or eight months of gestation, it is sometimes present at birth. This is not a cause for concern: lanugo will disappear within a few days or weeks of its own accord. "Lanugo" is the Latin word for down, like the fine small hairs of plants.
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SYN: downy hair. [L. down, wooliness, from lana,
wool]
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la·nu·go lə-'n(y)ü-(.)gō n a dense cottony or downy growth of hair
specif the soft downy hair that covers the fetus of some mammals
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n.
fine hair covering the body and limbs of the human fetus. It is most profuse at about the 28th week of gestation and is shed around 40 weeks.
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la·nu·go (lə-nooґgo) [L.] [TA] the fine hair on the body of the fetus; called also down, downy hair, lanugo hair, and primary hair.
Medical dictionary.
2011.