Etymology Elision for phrases such as New Latin placenta uterī (“womb cake”), placenta uterina (“uterine cake”), from Latin placenta (“flat cake”), because of the flat round shape of the afterbirth.
1
Anatomy, Medicine, Sciences An organ in most mammals during gestation that supplies food and oxygen to the foetus and passes back waste. It is on the wall of the uterus and links to the foetus through the umbilical cord. It is expelled after birth.
2
Biology, Botany, Natural sciences In flowering plants, the part of the ovary where ovules develop; in non-flowering plants where the spores develop.