F

Female, male

Use as adjectives only. If you are writing about a person, use man or woman.

Female genital mutilation

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the preferred term for the School's publications, as it is for the UN and UN agencies.

Depending on the context, however, we may use the terms "female genital cutting" (FGC) or "female circumcision" (FC): The terms FGM and FGC may be alienating to certain audiences, and we try to exercise sensitivity when publishing articles on this subject.

Foodborne

One word, no hyphen.

Foreign words

Italicize only those foreign words that are not common English expressions.

Accent marks
When using foreign words and expressions, insert accents and other foreign marks whenever possible. Foreign words now accepted as part of the English language should not be italicized.

alma mater
rendezvous
spiel
pastiche
in vitro
in vivo

Fractions

Fractions, such as two-thirds, should be spelled out. If paired with a whole number, use the decimal system: 2.66.

Fungus, fungi

Singular = fungus
Plural = fungi

When referring to a particular fungus, the genus name is italicized and initial-capped, and the species name is italicized (but not capitalized), as follows:

Candida albicans (the fungus that causes candidiasis)
Aspergillus fumigatus (the causative agent of pulmonary aspergillosis, among other infections)

When abridging the name of a fungus, we do so as follows:

C. albicans
A. fumigatus

The name of the disease caused by the fungus is neither italicized nor capped (unless it contains a proper name).