Fetus

Synonyms:	fetus![name], baby![name]
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five fetuses

Fetus is used as a term of endearment, usually on Tumblr, to describe younger versions of celebrities. The term often combined with their names in the form Fetus!Name or Fetus Name. The fetus designation is meant to be relative and doesn't usually convey a specific age range, and in fact is rarely used to describe children. Rather, the designation usually applies to pictures from a period before fame or before the person had a significant fandom.

Usage of this construction is especially popular (and may have originated) in One Direction fandom (see fetus!direction), probably because of the large quantity of photographs and video footage of the band members as teenagers. Usually fetus would be applied from birth through their appearance on The X Factor (ages 16-18) and possibly up to their first tour, but as their fourth tour approaches pictures from as late as their second tour might also be labeled fetus. (In 2012 soon after their first tour, pictures from 2010 were already labeled fetus. ) Due to crossover fandom interest, the band 5SOS gets similar treatment.

In Teen Wolf fandom, the term is also used to describe the deaged version of Derek Hale, played by a different actor.

On Tumblr, the contents of the fetus tag indicate that the term became popular sometime in mid 2012; in May, the majority of posts were about actual fetuses (don't look), but by the end of August One Direction and other born humans had taken over the tag. The first post in the Fetus Harry Tumblr tag was in August 2011, but the tag had probably been added later since the gif was contemporary; regular posting in the tag did not start until May 2012. On Twitter, with the exception of two 2011 tweets, activity in #fetusdirection began in June 2012. On the AO3 the fetus!1D tag was created 2012-12-11, the Fetus tag was created 2012-12-25, and the Fetus Harry tag was created 2013-02-26.