aculeus

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English

Etymology

From Latin aculeus.

Pronunciation

Noun

aculeus (plural aculei)

  1. (botany) A sharp spike or other projection growing on a plant, as in some brambles and roses.
    • 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 15:
      Many plants, like many animals, are furnished with arms for their protection; these are either aculei, prickles, as in rose and barberry, which are formed from the outer bark of the plant; or spinæ, thorns […] .
  2. A sting.

Derived terms

Translations

Latin

Etymology

Derived from ac(us) (“needle”) +‎ -uleus (diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

Noun

aculeus m (genitive aculeī); second declension

  1. sting, stinger (of an insect)
  2. sting (metaphorical)
    • c. 195 BCE, Plautus, Trinummus 1000, (iambic senarius):
      iam dudum meum ille pectus pungit aculeus, / quid illi negoti fuerit ante aedis meas
      Already does this sting pierce my breast--what business he could have before my house?― The Comedies of Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley. London. G. Bell and Sons. 1912. Perseus
  3. spine, thorn

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative aculeus aculeī
Genitive aculeī aculeōrum
Dative aculeō aculeīs
Accusative aculeum aculeōs
Ablative aculeō aculeīs
Vocative aculee aculeī

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  • “ăcūlĕus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “aculeus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • aculeus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • ăcŭlĕus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 26/3.
  • “aculeus” on page 31/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
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