An arch-shaped anatomical structure, especially the arched white matter in the brain connecting the hippocampus to other parts, or any vault-like structure.
From Latin fornix (arch, vault, brothel). In Roman architecture, fornices were arched structures; anatomists adopted the term for the brain's arched fibers. The connection to brothels comes from their location under Roman arches.
Your brain contains a literal 'Roman arch'—the fornix is named after structures that were old when Caesar was alive, giving your neurons an architectural pedigree stretching back 2,000 years.
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