What does fossette mean?
A fossette is a small, shallow hollow or dimple, particularly one formed in the chin. The word has a precise but literary tone and is most useful when discussing facial anatomy, physical description, or the appearance of a person’s chin. It is related to the familiar word dimple, but it refers more explicitly to a small depression in the surface of the body and may be used in technical anatomical contexts. Fossettes can vary in depth and prominence, and they are often described as attractive because they become especially visible when someone smiles. Although ordinary speakers would normally say chin dimple in everyday conversation, fossette lends a more formal or descriptive precision. Its unusual sound also conceals a fitting history: the word comes through French from the Latin word for a ditch or pit, reflecting the basic image of a small hollow.
nounA small, shallow hollow or dimple, especially one in the chin.
- A small shallow hollow or dimple, especially in the chin.
"A slight indentation gave the model a charming chin fossette."
"The dancer's fossette became more noticeable as she smiled."
"Anatomists used the term facial fossette for the small depression in the tissue."
The regular plural is used when referring to more than one small hollow or chin dimple.
"The portrait displays two faint fossettes beneath her lower lip."
A fossette is simply a dimple with a more elegant name—and a direct connection to the word for a ditch.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does fossette come from?
Fossette was borrowed from French, where it is the diminutive of fosse, meaning a ditch or trench. French fosse comes from Latin fossa, a feminine noun meaning a pit or hollow, derived from the past participle of fodere, “to dig.” The French diminutive form thus developed the sense of a particularly small hollow, which English later applied especially to a dimple in the chin. The same Latin root is reflected in related English words such as fosse, fossa, and fossil.
How fossette is actually used
This is an uncommon, relatively formal or technical term. In general use, dimple is the more natural word, while fossette is especially associated with detailed physical and anatomical description.
Easily confused with fossette
A fossette is a small surface dimple, whereas a fossa is an anatomical cavity or depression, such as a tooth socket.