Fusiform

Fusiform (from Latin fusus ‘spindle’) means having a spindle-like shape that is wide in the middle and tapers at both ends. It is similar to the lemon-shape, but often implies a focal broadening of a structure that continues from one or both ends, such as an aneurysm on a blood vessel.

Spindle with yarn

A lemon in geometry

Examples

• Fusiform, a body shape common to many aquatic animals, characterized by being tapered at both the head and the tail^[1]
• Fusiform, a classification of aneurysm
• Fusiform bacteria (spindled rods, that is, fusiform bacilli), such as the Fusobacteriota
• Fusiform cell (biology)
• Fusiform face area, a part of the human visual system which seems to specialize in facial recognition
• Fusiform gyrus, part of the temporal lobe of the brain
• Fusiform muscle, where the fibres run parallel along the length of the muscle
• Fusiform neuron, a spindle-shaped neuron