fissure

See also: fissuré

English

A fissure in the ground.

Etymology

From Middle English fissure, from Old French fissure, from Latin fissūra (“a cleft, chink”), from findō (“to cleave, split, divide”) +‎ -tūra (nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪʃ.ə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈfɪʃ.ɚ/, /ˈfɪʒ.ɚ/
• Homophones: Fischer, Fisher, fisher, phisher
• Rhymes: -ɪʃə(ɹ)

Noun

fissure (plural fissures)

1. A long, narrow crack or opening made by breaking or splitting, especially in rock or earth.

   Hyponym: microfissure

   • 1960 April, J. P. Wilson, E. N. C. Haywood, “The route through the Peak—Derby to Manchester: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 224:

     After Miller's Dale Junction, the main Derby-Manchester line crosses the Wye for the last time and turns north-west up Great Rocks Dale, a natural fissure several miles long.

2. (anatomy) A groove, deep furrow, elongated cleft or tear between body parts or in the substance of an organ; a sulcus.

   Hyponyms: anal fissure, anterior median fissure, longitudinal fissure, orbital fissure, palpebral fissure, Rolandic fissure, sylvian fissure

3. (anatomy) A break or slit in tissue usually at the junction of skin and mucous membrane.
4. A state of incompatibility or disagreement.

   Synonym: schism

Derived terms

• ape-fissure
• contrafissure, counterfissure
• fissural
• fissurate
• fissureless
• fissurelike
• fissure needle
• fissure vein
• fissure vent
• fissuriform
• fissurotomy
• inferior orbital fissure
• laryngofissure
• pterygomaxillary fissure
• superior orbital fissure
• Sylvian fissure
• thyrofissure

 

Translations

crack or opening

• Arabic: شَقّ (šaqq), صَدْع (ṣadʕ)
• Armenian: ճաք (hy) (čakʻ)
• Azerbaijani: çat (az), çatlaq, yarıq
• Bulgarian: цепнатина (bg) f (cepnatina), пукнатина (bg) f (puknatina)
• Catalan: fissura (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 裂縫／裂缝 (zh) (lièfèng)

• Danish: revne c, sprække c
• Dutch: spleet (nl)
• Finnish: halkeama (fi), (medicine) fissuura
• French: fissure (fr) f
• Galician: laño m, laña f, granipela f, fisura f
• German: Riss (de) m, Spalte (de) f

  Alemannic German: Chlack m

• Greek:

  Ancient: ῥωχμός m (rhōkhmós)

• Indonesian: keretakan (id)
• Ingrian: lonka
• Irish: gág f
• Japanese: 裂け目 (ja) (さけめ, sakeme), 割れ目 (ja) (われめ, wareme)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: qelîş

• Latin: rīma (la) f, fissura f
• Macedonian: пукна́тина f (puknátina), ра́сцеп m (ráscep), цепна́тина f (cepnátina)
• Malayalam: വിള്ളൽ (ml) (viḷḷal)
• Maori: piere
• Persian: شکاف (fa) (šekâf), چاک (fa) (čâk), رخنه (fa) (rexne)
• Polish: szczelina (pl)
• Portuguese: fissura (pt) f
• Romanian: fisură (ro) f, crăpătură (ro) f
• Russian: тре́щина (ru) f (tréščina), расще́лина (ru) f (rasščélina)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: расцеп m

  Roman: rascep (sh) m

• Slovak: trhlina f, prasklina f, puklina f, škára f
• Spanish: grieta (es) f, fisura (es) f
• Swedish: rämna (sv), spricka (sv) c
• Turkish: çatlak; yarık
• Ukrainian: тріщина f (triščyna), щілина f (ščilyna)

anatomic groove

• Catalan: fissura (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 裂 (zh) (liè)

• Finnish: vako (fi)
• Galician: degresa f, razada (gl) f, cieiro m
• Persian: فیسور (fisur)
• Swedish: fissur (sv) c
• Turkish: fissür
• Ukrainian: борозна (uk) f (borozna) (мозку)

Verb

fissure (third-person singular simple present fissures, present participle fissuring, simple past and past participle fissured)

1. To split, forming fissures.

Derived terms

• fissuration
• fissured (adjective)
• fissuring (noun)

Translations

to split

• Finnish: rakoilla (fi), halkeilla (fi)
• German: rissig werden
• Indonesian: meretakkan (id)
• Persian: شکافتن (fa) (šekâftan)

References

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

Anagrams

• fussier, surfies

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Latin fissūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi.syʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -yʁ

Noun

fissure f (plural fissures)

1. fissure

   Synonym: fente

Related terms

• fendre

Descendants

• → Persian: فیسور (fisur)
• → Romanian: fisură

See also

• ouverture

Verb

fissure

1. inflection of fissurer:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “fissure”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Participle

fissūre

1. vocative masculine singular of fissūrus

Middle English

Alternative forms

• ffissure

Etymology

From Old French fissure, from Latin fissūra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fiˈsiu̯r(ə)/

Noun

fissure (Late Middle English, rare)

1. (anatomy) fissure, rupture
2. (surgery) incision

Descendants

• English: fissure

References

• “fissūre, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Portuguese

Verb

fissure

1. inflection of fissurar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative