operculum
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Illustration of a fish's opercular series, with the operculum (yellow), preoperculum (red), interoperculum (green) and suboperculum (pink). 
Sea snail with its operculum covering the aperture. 
The operculum of the brain. 
Flower buds of Eucalyptus erythrocorys, with and without opercula.
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin operculum.
Pronunciation
Noun
operculum (plural opercula)
- (zoology) A covering flap in animals, such as a gill cover.
- (botany) The lidlike portion of a moss sporangium or of a fruit that detaches to allow the dispersal of spores or seeds.
- (dentistry) A gum flap covering (part of) a partially erupted tooth, usually a wisdom tooth.
- A structure which serves as a cover or lid.
- 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter IX, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, , published 1901, →OCLC, page 95:
- I lifted the circular operculum from its place and laid it carefully on the bale.
- (anatomy) One of several flaps of cerebral cortex covering the insula. (clarification of this definition is needed)
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
(zoology) covering flap in animals
|
(botany) lidlike portion on a sporangium or fruit that detaches
structure which serves as a cover or lid
Latin
Etymology
From operiō (“I close”) + -culum.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /oˈper.ku.lum/,
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /oˈper.ku.lum/,
Noun
operculum n (genitive operculī); second declension
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | operculum | opercula |
| Genitive | operculī | operculōrum |
| Dative | operculō | operculīs |
| Accusative | operculum | opercula |
| Ablative | operculō | operculīs |
| Vocative | operculum | opercula |
Descendants
- → English: opercle, operculum
- → French: opercule
- → Italian: opercolo
- → Portuguese: opérculo
- → Spanish: opérculo
References
- “operculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “operculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- operculum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “operculum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers