"sphragis" meaning in English

See sphragis in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈsfræd͡ʒɪs/ [General-American, Received-Pronunciation] Audio: sphragis.wav [US] Forms: sphragides [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun|sphragides}} sphragis (plural sphragides)
  1. (zoology, especially entomology) A mating plug in the genital opening of a female, formed from a waxy secretion deposited by a male during mating. Tags: especially
    Sense id: en-sphragis-en-noun-Oi~CJyZp Categories (other): Entomology, Zoology Topics: biology, entomology, natural-sciences, zoology
  2. Synonym of sphragide. Synonyms: sphragide [synonym, synonym-of]
    Sense id: en-sphragis-en-noun-0PnkRWpk Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 41 59
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: copulation plug [zoology, biology, natural-sciences], copulatory plug [zoology, biology, natural-sciences], coitus plug [zoology, biology, natural-sciences], sperm plug [zoology, biology, natural-sciences], vaginal plug [zoology, biology, natural-sciences], sement [zoology, biology, natural-sciences] Related terms: sphragistic

Inflected forms

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sphragides",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sphragides"
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      "expansion": "sphragis (plural sphragides)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "sphragistic"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Entomology",
          "orig": "en:Entomology",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Zoology",
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        }
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              102,
              112
            ],
            [
              241,
              249
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1999, Roger Laurence Kitching, Biology of Australian Butterflies, page 129:",
          "text": "The plastic mass begins to harden quite rapidly, probably within a few minutes but, as largely hollow sphragides have been dissected from pairs killed in copula, possibly more than one ejaculation may be required to complete the body of the sphragis.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              122,
              132
            ],
            [
              144,
              152
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2008, Andrew F. E. Neild, The butterflies of Venezuela:",
          "text": "Mated females of many acraeine species bear an unusual structure around their genital opening. Such structures are called sphragides (singular: sphragis), or more rarely spermatophragma (Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 1978; Orr, 1995).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              36
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009, Sharman Apt Russell, An Obsession With Butterflies: Our Long Love Affair With A Singular Insect:",
          "text": "Bert first began studying sphragides in the Australian Big Greasy. The male, patterned in red, white, and black, is larger than the female and violent in his mating.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A mating plug in the genital opening of a female, formed from a waxy secretion deposited by a male during mating."
      ],
      "id": "en-sphragis-en-noun-Oi~CJyZp",
      "links": [
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          "zoology"
        ],
        [
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          "entomology"
        ],
        [
          "mating plug",
          "mating plug"
        ],
        [
          "genital",
          "genital"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(zoology, especially entomology) A mating plug in the genital opening of a female, formed from a waxy secretion deposited by a male during mating."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "especially"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "biology",
        "entomology",
        "natural-sciences",
        "zoology"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "41 59",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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      "examples": [
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2003, W. Rudolph Reinbacher, Healing Earths: The Third Leg of Medicine : a History of Minerals in Medicine with Rare Illustrations from 300 to 1000 Years Ago:",
          "text": "This made Lenian earth the first sgillated medicinal earth and wherever in literature the term terra sigillata appears without a location suffix, it refers to Lemnian earth, sometimes called Lemnia sphragis which is Greek for terra sigillata from Lemnos.",
          "type": "quotation"
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              74,
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012, Nicholas Everett, The Alphabet of Galen: Pharmacy from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, page 359:",
          "text": "The best Siopic red ochre is found on the island of Lemnos, and is called sphragis.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of sphragide."
      ],
      "id": "en-sphragis-en-noun-0PnkRWpk",
      "links": [
        [
          "sphragide",
          "sphragide#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "tags": [
            "synonym",
            "synonym-of"
          ],
          "word": "sphragide"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈsfræd͡ʒɪs/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "sphragis.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/59/Sphragis.wav/Sphragis.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/59/Sphragis.wav/Sphragis.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "copulation plug"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "copulatory plug"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "coitus plug"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "sperm plug"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "vaginal plug"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "sement"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sphragis"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English nouns with irregular plurals",
    "Pages using etymon with no ID",
    "Pages with 2 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Pages with etymon",
    "la:Gems"
  ],
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "sphragides",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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  ],
  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "sphragis (plural sphragides)",
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "sphragistic"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Entomology",
        "en:Zoology"
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              102,
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            ],
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1999, Roger Laurence Kitching, Biology of Australian Butterflies, page 129:",
          "text": "The plastic mass begins to harden quite rapidly, probably within a few minutes but, as largely hollow sphragides have been dissected from pairs killed in copula, possibly more than one ejaculation may be required to complete the body of the sphragis.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              122,
              132
            ],
            [
              144,
              152
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2008, Andrew F. E. Neild, The butterflies of Venezuela:",
          "text": "Mated females of many acraeine species bear an unusual structure around their genital opening. Such structures are called sphragides (singular: sphragis), or more rarely spermatophragma (Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 1978; Orr, 1995).",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              36
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2009, Sharman Apt Russell, An Obsession With Butterflies: Our Long Love Affair With A Singular Insect:",
          "text": "Bert first began studying sphragides in the Australian Big Greasy. The male, patterned in red, white, and black, is larger than the female and violent in his mating.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A mating plug in the genital opening of a female, formed from a waxy secretion deposited by a male during mating."
      ],
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(zoology, especially entomology) A mating plug in the genital opening of a female, formed from a waxy secretion deposited by a male during mating."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "especially"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "biology",
        "entomology",
        "natural-sciences",
        "zoology"
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          "ref": "2003, W. Rudolph Reinbacher, Healing Earths: The Third Leg of Medicine : a History of Minerals in Medicine with Rare Illustrations from 300 to 1000 Years Ago:",
          "text": "This made Lenian earth the first sgillated medicinal earth and wherever in literature the term terra sigillata appears without a location suffix, it refers to Lemnian earth, sometimes called Lemnia sphragis which is Greek for terra sigillata from Lemnos.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              74,
              82
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012, Nicholas Everett, The Alphabet of Galen: Pharmacy from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, page 359:",
          "text": "The best Siopic red ochre is found on the island of Lemnos, and is called sphragis.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Synonym of sphragide."
      ],
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      "tags": [
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        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "sphragis.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/59/Sphragis.wav/Sphragis.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/59/Sphragis.wav/Sphragis.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
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  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "topics": [
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        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "copulation plug"
    },
    {
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "copulatory plug"
    },
    {
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "coitus plug"
    },
    {
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "sperm plug"
    },
    {
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "vaginal plug"
    },
    {
      "topics": [
        "zoology",
        "biology",
        "natural-sciences"
      ],
      "word": "sement"
    }
  ],
  "word": "sphragis"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (1a05e46 and e3d6d4e). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.