floccus

Borrowed from Latin floccus.

floccus (plural flocci)

1. (meteorology) A cloud species which consists of rounded tufts of cloud, often formed by dissipation from larger cloud species. Associated with cirrus, cirrocumulus, altocumulus, and stratocumulus genera.
2. A flock or tuft of wool or wool-like hairs; the downy plumage of unfledged birds.

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlok-, related to Old High German blaha (“linen, canvas”), Old Swedish blan, bla, both from Proto-Germanic *blahǭ, *blagwǭ (“cloth, linen”), and Old Norse blæja, which is from Proto-Germanic *blahjǭ (“linen, cloth”).

floccus m (genitive floccī); second declension

1. tuft, wisp of wool
2. (figuratively) trifle (thing of little importance)

Second-declension noun.

• floccī nōn faciō
• floccōsus
• flocculus

• Balkan Romance:
  • Romanian: floc
• Dalmatian:
  • floc, flok
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: fiocco
  • Neapolitan: sciuocco
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: floc
  • Piedmontese: fiòca
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: floc
  • Old French: floc
    • French: floc
    • → Middle English: flock
      • English: flock (“tuft of wool”)
  • Occitan: flòc
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: frocco
    • Galician: floco
    • Portuguese: floco, froco
  • Spanish: flueco, fleco, lleco
• Vulgar Latin: *floccāre (see there for further descendants)
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: flok
  • → English: floccus
  • → English: floc
  • → Proto-Brythonic: *flʉx
    • Middle Welsh: ffluch
      • Welsh: ffluwch

• “floccus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “floccus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• floccus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.