fissure

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

• (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)

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.

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

   Coordinate terms: fossa, fovea, sulcus, cleft, lacuna, vallecula

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

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

1. To split, forming fissures.

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

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

• fussier, surfies

Inherited from Old French, borrowed from Latin fissūra.

• IPA^(key): /fi.syʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -yʁ

fissure f (plural fissures)

1. fissure

   Synonym: fente

• fendre

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

• ouverture

fissure

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

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

fissūre

1. vocative masculine singular of fissūrus

• ffissure

From Old French fissure, from Latin fissūra.

• IPA^(key): /fiˈsiu̯r(ə)/

fissure (Late Middle English, rare)

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

• English: fissure

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

fissure

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