holoprosencephaly

Meanings

1. A congenital disorder involving insufficient division of the lobes of the brain during fetal development, resulting in skull and facial deformities ranging from minor cleft lip problems to cyclopia, in which a single eye develops where the nose would normally be.

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) + πρόσω (prósō, “forwards, onwards”) (referring to the prosencephalon (“forebrain”)) + ἐγκέφαλος (enképhalos, “brain”) + English -y (suffix denoting a condition), i.e. “condition of a whole (inappropriately divided) forebrain”. By surface analysis, holo- + pros- + encephal- + -y.