vernix caseosa

English

Newborn baby, still bearing some vernix caseosa

Etymology

From Latin vernix (“varnish”) + caseosa (“cheesy”).

Noun

vernix caseosa (uncountable)

1. (obstetrics, medecine) The waxy or "cheesy" white substance found coating the skin of newborn humans.

   Synonyms: vernix, birthing custard

   • 1888 Austin Flint: A Text-book of human physiology

     The protecting coat of vernix caseosa allows the skin to perform its office in utero, and at birth, when this coating is removed, the surface is found in a condition perfectly adapted to extrauterine existence. It is not probable that the vernix caseosa is necessary to facilitate the passage of the child into the world, for the parts of the mother are always sufficiently lubricated with mucous secretion.

   • 1983 Carol Laderman: Wives and Midwives: Childbirth and Nutrition in Rural Malaysia

     She rubbed his body with coconut oil to remove the vernix caseosa. A heavy coating of vernix caseosa, she told me later, is a sure sign that the couple have been having intercourse during the latter part of pregnancy, a practice she considers dangerous. She believes the white vernix caseosa to be an accumulation of semen.