umbo

en-noun

umbo (plural umbones or umbos or umboes)

umbones (plural)
umbos (plural)
umboes (plural)

Borrowed from Latin umbō (“a shield boss”).

(biology) A boss, or rounded elevation, or a corresponding depression, in a palate, disk, or membrane.

(anatomy) An inward projection of the tympanic membrane of the ear.

(zoology) One of the lateral prominences just above the hinge of a bivalve shell.

(mycology) A bump or protrusion on the cap of a mushroom or toadstool.


flavid

From Latin flāvidus, ultimately from flāvus.


caste

Borrowed from Portuguese or Spanish casta (“lineage, breed, race”), of uncertain origin.
* The OED derives it from Portuguese casto (“chaste”), from Latin castus (“chaste"; "chastity”).
* Coromines (1987) argues instead for a hypothetical Gothic form *𐌺𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (*kasts, “group, collection of animals”), cognate with English cast, from Proto-Germanic *kastuz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ǵ-es-.

unc

uncertain

In beehives, most bees belong to the worker caste.

(zoology) A class of polymorphous eusocial insects of a particular size and function within a colony.


supertribe

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-supertribe.wav

taxonomists have been inventing a confusing raft of ranks, such as phalanxes, infracohorts and supertribes

2004 September 11, New Scientist, page 13:

(taxonomy) one of the ranks used in classifying animal life forms; a supertribe is more specific than a subfamily and more general than a tribe


infracohort

(taxonomy) One of the ranks used in classifying animal life forms; an infracohort is more specific than a subcohort and more general than a subtercohort.


chitin

en-noun

chitin (countable and uncountable, plural chitins)

From French chitine, from Latin chitōn (“mollusk”), from Ancient Greek χιτών (khitṓn). See also chiton.

Chitin usually occurs throughout Invertebrates in the form of an investment to the outermost cellular layer or ectoderm.

1880, Arthur Gamgee, A Text-book of the Physiological Chemistry of the Animal Body, Macmillan, page 299:

The robot’s energy source is the sugar in the polysaccharide called chitin that makes up a fly’s exoskeleton.

2004 September 11, New Scientist, page 19:

(biochemistry) A complex polysaccharide, a polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in the exoskeletons of arthropods and in the cell walls of fungi; thought to be responsible for some forms of asthma in humans.

խիտին

polymer of N-acetylglucosamine, found in arthropod and fungi


baculum

Learned borrowing from Latin baculum (“stick, staff, sceptre, cudgel”).

lbor

Bacula can be straight rods, s-shaped curves, or even bizarre, flared scoops.

2018 January 24, Elsa Panciroli, The Guardian:

(zoology) A bone found in the penis of some placental mammals.


stress

en-noun

stress (countable and uncountable, plural stresses)

Hans Selye
Walter Cannon
stress
stress (mechanics)

From a shortening of Middle English destresse, borrowed from Old French destrecier, from Latin distringō (“to stretch out”). This form probably coalesced with Middle English stresse, from Old French estrece (“narrowness”), from Vulgar Latin *strictia, from Latin strictus (“narrow”).
In the sense of "mental strain" or “disruption”, used occasionally in the 1920s and 1930s by psychologists, including Walter Cannon (1934); in “biological threat”, used by endocrinologist Hans Selye, by metaphor with stress in physics (force on an object) in the 1930s, and popularized by same in the 1950s.

(biology) A physical, chemical, infective agent aggressing an organism.

(biology) Aggression toward an organism resulting in a response in an attempt to restore previous conditions.


apoptosis

apoptosis (countable and uncountable, plural apoptoses)

From Ancient Greek ἀπόπτωσις (apóptōsis, “a falling off”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) + πτῶσις (ptôsis, “falling”).

der

The term apoptosis is proposed for a hitherto little recognized mechanism of controlled cell deletion, which appears to play a complementary but opposite role to mitosis in the regulation of animal cell populations.

1972, J. F. R. Kerr, A. H. Wyllie, A. R. Currie, “Apoptosis: A Basic Biological Phenomenon with Wide-ranging Implications in Tissue Kinetics”, in British journal of cancer, volume 26, →DOI:

Indeed, so important is apoptosis that it is gradually becoming clear that almost all therapeutic cancer treatment works only because it induces apoptosis by alerting p53 and its colleagues.

1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 238:

Apoptosis is routine in developmental processes such as the removal of webbing between fingers in humans, the loss of tadpole tails in amphibians, and insect metamorphosis.

2011, Terence Allen, Graham Cowling, The Cell: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford, page 74:

(biology, cytology) A process of programmed cell death by which cells undergo an ordered sequence of events which leads to death of the cell, as occurs during growth and development of the organism, as a part of normal cell aging, or as a response to cellular injury.


LT

en-noun

LT (countable and uncountable, plural LTs)

(biochemistry, immunology) Initialism of leukotriene.


LC

LC (countable and uncountable, plural LCs)


model

desc

→ Cantonese: 模特兒 /模特儿 (mou⁴ dak⁶ ji⁴), 摩度

→ Cebuano: model

→ German: Model

→ Japanese: モデル

→ Korean: 모델 (model)

→ Mandarin: 模特兒 /模特儿, 麻豆 (neologism)

→ Swahili: modeli

→ Welsh: model

From Middle French modelle, from Old Italian modello, from Vulgar Latin *modellus, diminutive form of modulus (“measure, standard”), diminutive of modus (“measure”); see mode, and compare module, modulus, mould, mold.

عارض أزياء

ʕāriḍ ʔazyāʔ

They studied fasting and glycemia in a mouse model.

They studied Mendelian inheritance in a fruit fly model.

They studied plasmid transfer in a mycobacterial model.

en:organism or species used in studying biology including disease

(biology, medicine) An organism or species that is used to study an aspect of physiology or pathophysiology or a particular disease; often, a nonhuman one used to approximate processes in humans.


blast cell

From Ancient Greek βλαστός (blastós, “germ, sprout”).

der

(cytology) A cell that produces something, such as a fibroblast or osteoblast.


ancora

From Latin ancora. Doublet of anchor and anker.

(palaeography) Either of the symbols ⟨⸔⟩, ⟨⸕⟩ found in marginal notes to mark missing text.


nucleotide

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nucleotide.wav

From nucleo- (“relating to the nucleus”) + -ide (“chemical suffix”).

af

With a genome of only 400 million or so nucleotide bases, the pufferfish, Fugu rubripes rubripes, has the smallest known genome of any vertebrate animal. […] But the region of DNA between the landmarks can be a million or more nucleotides long.

1993 December 28, James Younger, “Fishy Short Cut To Mapping Human Genome”, in The New York Times:

Magid draws […] a diagram depicting a restriction enzyme cutting neatly through a sequence of nucleotides.

2000, Zadie Smith, White Teeth, London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN, page 464:

(biochemistry) The monomer constituting DNA or RNA biopolymer molecules. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous heterocyclic base (or nucleobase), which can be either a double-ringed purine or a single-ringed pyrimidine; a five-carbon pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA); and a phosphate group.


nucleoside

(biochemistry) an organic molecule in which a nitrogenous heterocyclic base (or nucleobase), which can be either a double-ringed purine or a single-ringed pyrimidine, is covalently attached to a five-carbon pentose sugar (deoxyribose in DNA or ribose in RNA). When the phosphate group is covalently attached to the pentose sugar, it forms a nucleotide.


glucoside

glucosides (plural)
glucosid (alternative archaic)

(biochemistry) A glycoside that yields glucose after hydrolysis.


glycoside

(organic chemistry, biochemistry) A molecule in which a sugar group (the glycone) is bound to a non-sugar group (the corresponding aglycone) by a nitrogen or oxygen atom. Glycosides yield a sugar after undergoing hydrolysis.


glucose

en-noun

glucose (countable and uncountable, plural glucoses)

Through French, from Ancient Greek γλεῦκος (gleûkos, “wine, must”); note: -ose comes from glucose, not the other way round. In other words, the view of the word glucose as gluco- + -ose is a reanalysis rather than a historical etymology. This is unusual for being a reanalysis that works completely, that is, without any leftover nonsense syllables (such as the ham- in reanalyzed hamburger).

uder

(biochemistry) A simple monosaccharide (sugar) with a molecular formula of C₆H₁₂O₆; it is a principle source of energy for cellular metabolism.

葡萄糖

phû-tô-thn̂g, phô-tô-thn̂g, phôe-tô-thn̂g, pû-tô-thn̂g

葡萄糖 (pútáotáng, literally “grape sugar/grape carbohydrate”)


sucrose

en-noun

sucrose (countable and uncountable, plural sucroses)

There were four forms of sugar interesting to the physiologist---cane sugar, grape sugar, milk sugar, and liver sugar. They might be called, for the sake of distinction, sucrose, glucose, lactose, and hepatose. The first two were vegetable, the last two, animal products.

1858, July 3, The Medical Times & Gazette, 20

Dextran is an indicator of cane deterioration and sucrose loss after harvesting of the cane.

2019, S. Nel, S. B. Davis, A. Endo, and L. M. T. Dicks, “Differentiation between Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus subtilis isolated from a South African sugarcane processing factory using ARDRA and rpoB gene sequencing” in Archives of Microbiology, 1

(biochemistry) A disaccharide with formula C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁, consisting of two simple sugars, glucose and fructose; normal culinary sugar.


fructose

fructose (countable and uncountable, plural fructoses)

From Latin fructus (“fruit”) + -ose (“sugar”) (derivation of sucrose).

(biochemistry) A monosaccharide ketose sugar, formula C₆H₁₂O₆.


-ose

(biochemistry) Used to indicate a product of protein breakdown


fibre

fibre (countable and uncountable, plural fibres)

tlb

(British, Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa spellings)

From French fibre, from Old French, from Latin fibra.

It is the deeper parts of such cells which give rise to delicate muscular fibres or networks of fibres, while the superficially placed body of the cell myoblast), the part which produces the above, performs other functions, and usually bears a cilium.

1892, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Claus, edited by F. G. Heathcote, Elementary Text-book of Zoology:

(cytology) A long tubular cell found in bodily tissue.


primer

en-noun

primer (countable and uncountable, plural primers)

запалка

small charge used to ignite gunpowder or other explosive

(biochemistry, genetics) A molecule which initiates the synthesis of an enzyme, (especially) a single-stranded nucleic acid molecule which initiates DNA replication.

引物

biology: molecule required for replication of DNA

(medicine, zoology) A pheromone which interacts first with the endocrine system.

alustava feromoni

medicine, zoology: pheromone which interacts first


gynandrous

From Ancient Greek γύνανδρος (gúnandros, “of doubtful sex, womanish; warlike woman”); equivalent to gyno- (“woman”) + -androus.

bor

Orchids have gynandrous flowers.

(botany) Having stamens and pistils together in a column.

ginandru

botany: having stamens and pistils together in a column


hermaphrodite

From Hermaphroditus, the mythical son of Hermes and Aphrodite, who merged bodies with a naiad, thereafter having both male and female qualities.

deledash

organism having both male and female gonads

An earthworm is a hermaphrodite.

(biology) Cosexual: an organism possessing both types of gonads; a flower possessing both stamens and pistils.

Comb jellies are sequential hermaphrodites.

(biology) Dichogamous: an organism which begins its life as one sex and changes its sex over its life cycle.


hermaphrodite

two-spirit

two-spirits were formerly often called hermaphrodites

(biology) Having both ovaries and testes or both stamens and pistils.


nasal

From Middle English, from Medieval Latin nāsālis, from nāsus (“the nose”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of nasalis.

af

(zootomy) A plate, or scale, on the nose of a fish, etc.


fiber

en-noun

fiber (countable and uncountable, plural fibers)

From French fibre, from Old French fibre, from Latin fibra.


fiddle

→ Swahili: fidla

From Middle English fithele, from Old English *fiþele, from Proto-West Germanic *fiþulā, from Proto-Germanic *fiþulǭ (“fiddle”), of uncertain etymology. Some contest that the Germanic terms are borrowed variations of Late Latin vitula (see viola); others contest that the word has a separate origin within Germanic languages, and still others believe that the Late Latin term for the stringed instrument is a borrowing from Germanic as a change of Latin t to Germanic þ is highly improbable, yet Germanic þ to Latin t is well documented (see troop, Teobaldo, etc.). Cognate with Old High German fidula (German Fiedel), Middle Dutch vedele (Dutch vedel, veel), Old Norse fiðla (Icelandic fiðla, Danish fiddel, Norwegian fela, Swedish fela).
The change from /ðl/ to /dl/ in modern English is regular; compare Bedlam, staddle, swaddle (in brothel, it was prevented; see that entry for discussion).

hang up one's fiddle when one comes home

there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle

Something resembling a violin, or fiddle, in shape, particularly:

(biology) A dock (Rumex pulcher) with leaves supposed to resemble the musical instrument.


kolea

(botany) Any of various Hawaiian species of flowering plants in the genus Myrsine.


oophagy

A number of shark species go in for oophagy, or uterine cannibalism.

2015, Theo Tait, ‘Don't wear yum-yum yellow’, London Review of Books, volume 34, number 15:

(zoology) The cannibalization of subordinate eggs within a homogeneous population or the uterus; particularly as it relates to certain insect and aquatic species.


-on

(biology, genetics) Forming names of things considered as basic or fundamental units, such as codon or recon.


recalcitrant

en-adj

recalcitrant (comparative more recalcitrant, superlative most recalcitrant)

more recalcitrant (comparative)
most recalcitrant (superlative)

compliant

antonym(s) of “stubbornly unwilling to obey authority”

amenable

antonym(s) of “difficult to operate or deal with”

orthodox

antonym(s) of “not viable for long period”

Borrowed from French récalcitrant, from Latin recalcitrāns, recalcitrantis, present participle of recalcitrō, recalcitrāre (“be disobedient, kick back [as a horse]”), from calx (“heel”), 1820s.

(botany, of seed, pollen, spores) Not viable for an extended period; damaged by drying or freezing.


tendon

Borrowed from French tendon or Medieval Latin tendō, from Ancient Greek τένων (ténōn, “sinew, tendon”), modified by association with the verb tendō (“to stretch”). Compare Middle English thenoun.


lesion

lesions (plural)
læsion (alternative archaic)

From Middle English lesioun, from Old French lesion, from Latin laesiō (“injury”), itself from laesus, perfect passive participle of laedō (“I injure, hurt”).

(biochemistry) Any compound formed from damage to a nucleic acid.


hormone

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ὁρμῶν (hormôn), present participle of ὁρμάω (hormáō, “to set in motion, to urge on”), from ὁρμή (hormḗ, “rapid motion forwards, onrush, onset, assault, impulse to do a thing, effort”).

hormon

synthetic compound with the same activity as a hormone

(botany) Any similar substance in plants.


repeat

From Middle English repeten, from Old French repeter, from Latin repetō, repetere, from the prefix re- (“again”) + peto (“attack, beseech”).

(genetics, biochemistry) A pattern of nucleic acids that occur in multiple copies throughout a genome (or of amino acids in a protein).


divorce

en-noun

divorce (countable and uncountable, plural divorces)

Derived from Old French divorce, from Latin dīvortium, from dīvertere (“to turn aside”), from dī- (“apart”) + vertere (“to turn”); see verse.

(zoology) The separation of a bonded pair of animals.


aster

→ Cebuano: aster

→ Esperanto: astero

From Latin astēr, from Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr). Doublet of star, stella, étoile, and estoile.

doublet

(biology) A star-shaped structure formed during the mitosis of a cell.


epigenetic

/ˌɛpɪd͡ʒəˈnɛtɪk/

(genetics, mineralogy) Of or relating to epigenesis.

The old and optimistic “one gene — one character” concept has long been invalidated by phenomena such as pleiotropy and polygeny, and for a generation now we have thought of genomic activity as a system of complex epigenetic interactions — an epigenetic landscape.

1977 December, Rupert Riedl, “A Systems-Analytical Approach to Macro-Evolutionary Phenomena”, in The Quarterly Review of Biology, volume 52, number 4, →JSTOR, page 352:

Every cell in the body contains the same DNA but epigenetic settings on cells in the bone and blood, for example, mean the tissues do very different jobs. The epigenetic consequences of a huge range of environmental factors are under investigation, from exposure to drugs, chemicals and hormones, to the impact of poor maternal care in infancy, and the likelihood that they are as hereditable as DNA.

2010 November 6, “Sins of the Fathers”, in New Scientist:

It is now possible to define whole epigenomes, representing the totality of epigenetic marks in a given cell type. Epigenetic processes are essential for packaging and interpreting the genome, are fundamental to normal development and are increasingly recognized as being involved in human disease.

2008 August 7, The American Association for Cancer Research Human Epigenome Task Force, European Union, Network of Excellence, Scientific Advisory Board, “Moving AHEAD with an international human epigenome project”, in Nature, volume 454, →DOI, page 711:

As one celebrated example, if you're a baby rat growing up with an atypically inattentive mother, epigenetic changes in the regulation of one gene in your hippocampus will make it harder for you to recover from stress as an adult.

2023, Robert M. Sapolsky, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will, New York: Penguin, →ISBN:

(genetics) Of or relating to epigenetics.


consumer

(ecology) An organism (heterotroph) that uses other organisms for food in order to gain energy.


delivery

en-noun

delivery (countable and uncountable, plural deliveries)

From Middle English deliveri et al., from Anglo-Norman, from Old French delivrer.

(genetics) Process of introducing foreign DNA into host cells.


wreck

From Middle English wrek, from Anglo-Norman wrek, from Old Norse *wrek (Norwegian and Icelandic rek, Swedish vrak, Danish vrag), from Proto-Germanic *wrekaną, whence also Old English wrecan (English wreak), Old High German rehhan, Old Saxon wrekan, Gothic 𐍅𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (wrikan).

[I]n 1952 more than 7,000 were involved in such a "wreck" in Britain and Ireland.

1988, Michael Cady, Rob Hume, editors, The Complete Book of British Birds, page 89:

(ornithology) A large number of birds that have been brought to the ground, injured or dead, by extremely adverse weather.


pathology

pathology (usually uncountable, plural pathologies)

/pəˈθɒləd͡ʒi/

From French pathologie, from Ancient Greek πάθος (páthos, “disease”) and -λογία (-logía, “study of”).

the plant pathology and vertebrate pathology programs of the university's biology department

en:study of all diseases
en:biology specialty

The study of the nature of disease and its causes, processes, development, and consequences; now usually and especially in the clinical and academic medicine subsenses defined below.

(biology, life sciences) Any of several interrelated scientific disciplines that advance the aspects of the life sciences that allow for such technological applications and their advancements over time.


inferior

en-adj

inferior (comparative more inferior, superlative most inferior)

more inferior (comparative)
most inferior (superlative)
inferiour (alternative)

Borrowed from Latin īnferior (“lower in situation or place”), comparative of īnferus (“below, underneath”).

bor

(zoology) Situated in a relatively low posterior or ventral position in a quadrupedal body.

(botany) Situated below some other organ (said of a calyx when free from the ovary, and therefore below it, or of an ovary with an adherent and therefore inferior calyx).

(botany) On the side of a flower which is next to the bract.


superior

/sʉːˈpɪə.ɹiː.ə/

From Middle English, borrowed from Old French superiour, from Latin superior (“higher, upper”).

Located above or out; higher in position.

(botany) (of a calyx) Above the ovary; said of parts of the flower which, although normally below the ovary, adhere to it, and so appear to originate from its upper part.

(botany) (of an ovary) Above and free from the other floral organs.

(botany) Belonging to the part of an axillary flower which is toward the main stem.

(botany) (of the radicle) Pointing toward the apex of the fruit.

A genus is superior to a species.


swift

Swift (disambiguation)
swift (bird)
swift (textiles)

From Middle English swift, from Old English swift (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Germanic *swiftaz (“swift; quick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)weyp- (“to twist; wind around”). Cognate with Icelandic svipta (“to pull quickly”), Old English swīfan (“to revolve, sweep, wend, intervene”). More at swivel.

cog

Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:

(entomology) A moth of the family Hepialidae, swift moth, ghost moth.

(entomology) Any of various fast-flying hesperiid butterflies.


lateral

en-adj

lateral (comparative more lateral, superlative most lateral)

more lateral (comparative)
most lateral (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin laterālis (“belonging to the side”), from latus (“the side or flank”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

af

The medial side of the knee faces the other knee, while the outer side of the knee is lateral.

A fish senses changes in hydrodynamic pressure with its lateral line.

To the side; of or pertaining to the side.

(anatomy, zootomy) Situated on one side or other of the body or of an organ, especially in the region furthest from the median plane.


reverse

From Middle English revers, from Anglo-Norman revers, Middle French revers, and their source, Latin reversus, perfect passive participle of reversō, from re- + versō. Doublet of revers.

a reverse shell

(genetics) In which cDNA synthetization is obtained from an RNA template.


disk

→ Japanese: ディスク (disuku)

→ Korean: 디스크 (diseukeu)

→ Norwegian Bokmål: disk

→ Thai: ดิสก์ (dìt)

→ Turkish: disk

→ Welsh: disg

From Ancient Greek δίσκος (dískos, “a circular plate suited for hurling”), from δικέω (dikéō, “to hurl, to launch”). Doublet of dais, desk, disc, discus, dish, and diskos.

doublet

(botany) A ring- or cup-shaped enlargement of the flower receptacle or ovary that bears nectar or, less commonly, the stamens.


spine

From late Middle English spyne, from Old French espine (French épine) or its source, Latin spīna (“a thorn; a prickle, spine; the backbone”). Doublet of spina.

der

If you attentively regard almost any quadruped's spine, you will be struck with the resemblance of its vertebrae to a strung necklace of dwarfed skulls.

1851, Herman Melville, chapter 80, in Moby-Dick:

The preposterous altruism too! […] Resist not evil. It is an insane immolation of self—as bad intrinsically as fakirs stabbing themselves or anchorites warping their spines in caves scarcely large enough for a fair-sized dog.

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXXIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 266:

(anatomy, zootomy) A series of bones situated at the back from the head to the pelvis of a human, or from the head to the tail of an animal, enclosing the spinal cord and providing support for the thorax and abdomen.

Trademark Owners will nevertheless try to dictate how their marks are to be represented, but dictionary publishers with spine can resist such pressure.

2001, Sydney I. Landau, Dictionaries: The Art and Craft of Lexicography, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 409:

रीढ़ की हड्डी

rīṛh kī haḍḍī

رِیڑھ کی ہَڈّی

rīṛh kī haḍḍī

The male, as Dr. Gunther informs me, has a cluster of stiff, straight spines, like those of a comb, on the sides of the tail.

1871, Charles Darwin, “chapter 12”, in Descent of Man, page 331:

(zootomy, botany, mycology) A pointed, fairly rigid protuberance or needlelike structure on an animal, shell, mushroom or plant.

espina

rigid, pointed surface protuberance or needle-like structure


sport

en-noun

sport (countable and uncountable, plural sports)

→ Belarusian: спорт (sport)

→ Bulgarian: спорт (sport)

→ Catalan: esport

→ Cebuano: esport

→ Czech: sport

→ Danish: sport

→ Dutch: sport (see there for further descendants)

→ French: sport (see there for further descendants)

→ Georgian: სპორტი (sṗorṭi)

→ German: Sport (see there for further descendants)

→ Hebrew: ספורט

→ Irish: spórt, spóirt (Cois Fharraige)

→ Italian: sport

→ Latvian: sports

→ Lithuanian: sportas

→ Macedonian: спорт (sport)

→ Norman: sport

→ Norwegian: sport

→ Polish: sport

→ Brazilian Portuguese: esporte

→ European Portuguese: desporto

→ Russian: спорт (sport) (see there for further descendants)

→ Scottish Gaelic: spòrs

→ Serbo-Croatian: sport / спорт

→ Swahili: spoti

→ Swedish: sport

→ Thai: สปอร์ต (sà-bpɔ̀ɔt)

→ Uzbek: sport

Japanese: スポーツ (supōtsu)

Korean: 스포츠 (seupocheu)

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English sporten (verb) and sport, spoort, sporte (noun), apheretic shortenings of disporten (verb) and disport, disporte (noun). More at disport.

We never shot another like it, so I do not know if it was a `sport' or a distinct species.

1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

At Hortus Bulborum you will find heirloom narcissi that date back at least to the 15th century and famous old tulips like 'Duc van Tol' (1595) and its sports.

2014 September 26, Charles Quest-Ritson, “The Dutch garden where tulip bulbs live forever: Hortus Bulborum, a volunteer-run Dutch garden, is dedicated to conserving historic varieties before they vanish for good [print version: Inspired by a living bulb archive, 27 September 2014, p. G5]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening):

(biology, botany, zoology, countable) A plant or an animal, or part of a plant or animal, which has some peculiarity not usually seen in the species; an abnormal variety or growth. The term encompasses both mutants and organisms with non-genetic developmental abnormalities such as birth defects.


zygote

→ Irish: siogót

→ Malay: zigot

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-zygote.wav

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ζῠγωτός (zŭgōtós, “yoked”) + English -ote (suffix meaning ‘having [the thing to which it is attached]’). Ζῠγωτός (Zŭgōtós) is derived from ζῠγόω (zŭgóō, “to join or yoke together”) + -τός (-tós, suffix forming adjectives of possibility); and ζῠγόω (zŭgóō) from ζῠγόν (zŭgón, “yoke for joining animals; anything which joins two things together”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *yewg- (“to tie together, join, yoke”)) + -όω (-óō, suffix forming causative or factitive verbs). By surface analysis, zygo- + -ote.

affix

suffix meaning ‘having 􂀿the thing to which it is attached􂁀’

der

(cytology, also attributive) A eukaryotic cell formed from the fusion of two gametes (“reproductive cells”) during a fertilization process.

sigoot

eukaryotic cell formed from the fusion of two gametes during a fertilization process

འདུས་ཕུང ('dus phung, literally “collected mass, congeries”)

སྨིན་པའི་ཕྲ་ཕུང (smin pa'i phra phung, literally “ripened cells”)


excrete

en-verb

excrete (third-person singular simple present excretes, present participle excreting, simple past and past participle excreted)

excretes (present singular third-person)
excreting (participle present)
excreted (participle past)
excreted (past)

Borrowed from Latin excrētum, past participle of excernō, from ex- (“out”), and cernō (“separate”).

Your open pores excrete sweat and dirt.

(biology, ambitransitive) To discharge material (including waste products) from a cell, body or system.


armed

en-adj

armed (comparative more armed, superlative most armed)

more armed (comparative)
most armed (superlative)

From arm (“to equip with a weapon”) + -ed.


gorge

From Middle English gorge (“esophagus, gullet; throat; bird's crop; food in a hawk's crop; food or drink that has been eaten”), a borrowing from Old French gorge (“throat”) (modern French gorge (“throat; breast”)), from Vulgar Latin *gorga, *gurga, from Latin gurges (“eddy, whirlpool; gulf; sea”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *gʷerh₃- (“to devour, swallow; to eat”). The English word is cognate with Galician gorxa (“throat”), Italian gorga, gorgia (“gorge, ravine; (obsolete) throat”), Occitan gorga, gorja, Portuguese gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”), Spanish gorja (“gullet, throat; gorge”). Doublet of gour.

cog

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-gorge.wav


pilum

Borrowed from Latin pilum. Doublet of pile.

(botany) The columella on the surface of a pollen grain.


gullet

From Middle English golet, borrowed from Old French goulet, from Latin gula, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷel- (“throat”).

(cytology) The cytopharynx of a ciliate, through which food is ingested.


trachea

en-noun

trachea (plural tracheae or (obsolete) tracheæ or tracheas)

tracheae (plural)
tracheæ (obsolete plural)
tracheas (plural)

From late Middle English, from Medieval Latin trāchēa (“the windpipe”) (also borrowed as Late Latin trāchīa), from Ancient Greek τρᾱχεῖᾰ ᾰ̓ρτηρῐ́ᾱ (trākheîă ărtērĭ́ā, “windpipe, trachea”).

der

τρᾱχεῖᾰ ᾰ̓ρτηρῐ́ᾱ

(entomology) One of the cuticle-lined primary tubes in the respiratory system of an insect, which extend throughout its body.


lysis

From Latin lysis, from Ancient Greek λύσις (lúsis, “a loosening”). Compare -lysis.

The breakdown of molecules into constituent molecules.

The disintegration or destruction of cells.


demersed

From Latin dēmersus, past participle of dēmergere. Botanical sense coined by botanist Thomas Martyn in the 1790s.

coin

(botany) Situated or growing or constantly under water, as leaves; submersed.


leporine

/ˈlɛpəˌɹaɪn/

The adjective is a learned borrowing from Latin leporīnus + English -ine (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). Leporīnus is derived from leporis (the genitive singular form of lepus (“hare”)) + -īnus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’).
The noun is derived from the adjective.

(hare):

(rabbit):

His leporine ears perked up at the mention of dessert.

This [the harp seal] inhabits the ſame countries vvith the Rough and Leporine Seal; but loves the coldeſt parts of the coaſt.

1784, Thomas Pennant, “Harp Seal”, in Arctic Zoology, volume I (Introduction. Class I. Quadrupeds.), London: […] Henry Hughs, →OCLC, paragraph 77, page 164:

Thus it is that one injustice generates another, and that the breed is propagated, with more than leporine fecundity, through every successive measure which these third-rate Legislators, these Statesmen in waiting, are sent to inflict upon Ireland.

1824, Captain Rock [pseudonym; Thomas Moore], chapter X, in Memoirs of Captain Rock, the Celebrated Irish Chieftain, with Some Account of His Ancestors. […], 3rd edition, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orms, Brown, and Green, →OCLC, pages 322–323:

[T]he fur [of the hispid hare] is very remarkable for an animal of the Leporine group, on account of its harshness, which is well expressed by the specific appellation hispidus.

1846 March, E[dward] Blyth, “XXIV.—Description of Caprolagus, a New Genus of Leporine Mammalia.”, in The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, volume XVII, number 111, London: R[ichard] and J[ohn] E[dward] Taylor, →OCLC, page 164:

I further give an anatomical systematic revision of the adult leporine tapeworms, together with their generic relationship to the cestodes of cattle, sheep, and horses.

1897, Ch[arles] Wardell Stiles, “A Revision of the Adult Tapeworms of Hares and Rabbits”, in Proceedings of the United States National Museum, volume XIX, number 1105, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, United States National Museum, Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 146:

Glad as she was to eat of the leporine family, she detested sport for sport's sake, even the fox-hunting, though her poultry-run had just been raided and a dog-fox had snarled fearlessly at Nip from the ditch.

1919, Israel Zangwill, “Winter’s Tale”, in Jinny the Carrier, London: William Heinemann, →OCLC, section I, page 448:

This is basic Peter Rabbit economics that everyone can understand [quoting Thomas G. Ayers]. / Having little faith in economists, even leporine ones, I propose to examine Ayers' thesis carefully.

1975 February, Dennis J. Chase, “A Commentary: Clouding the Nuclear Reactor Debate”, in Eugene Rabinowitch, editor, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: A Magazine of Science and Public Affairs, volume XXXI, number 2, Chicago, Ill.: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 41, column 1:

This curious passage begins with an intimation of a level of awareness in Uncle Remus, associated with his leporine "quick ear," which allows him to shift from the "senseless affair" into "a recitation of nonsense."

1990, Craig Werner, “The Framing of Charles W. Chesnutt: Practical Deconstruction in the Afro-American Tradition”, in Jefferson Humphries, editor, Southern Literature and Literary Theory, Athens, Ga., London: University of Georgia Press, →ISBN, page 348:

Mr Todd launched into a forceful disquisition, […] At last he stopped and sat gazing at her with the same desperate, leporine look as before, audibly breathing, his lips drawn back in a sort of leer and those teeth on show again.

2005 June 3, John Banville, “Part I”, in The Sea, London: Picador, →ISBN, page 17:

The aforementioned rodent and leporine studies represented some of the first in vivo reports of intra-amniotic injection of fetal cells in mammals.

2021, Stefanie P. Lazow, Dario O. Fauza, “Transamniotic Stem Cell Therapy”, in Kürşad Türkşen, editor, Cell Biology and Translational Medicine (Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology; 1237), volumes 7 (Stem Cells and Therapy: Emerging Approaches), Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, →DOI, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 68, column 1:

(chiefly mammalogy, also figuratively) Of, relating to, or resembling a hare or rabbit.

أَرْنَبِيّ

of, relating to, or resembling a hare or rabbit


leporine

/ˈlɛpəˌɹaɪn/

The most frequent intestinal parasite of rodents is probably Oxyuris ambigua, but Strong. retortæformis is tolerably abundant in the hare, and Trichocephalus unguiculatus is liable to occur in all leporines. […] Acari infest rats and mice, and especially leporines.

1879, T[homas] Spencer Cobbold, “Parasites of Animals”, in Parasites; a Treatise on the Entozoa of Man and Animals, including Some Account of the Ectozoa, London: J[ohn] & A[ugustus] Churchill, […], →OCLC, book II, page 319:

It will be seen that the variability in any one formula (excepting the anomaly of m. ⁴⁄₄) is confined to the premolars; that these only vary in one instance in the Hystricines; and that the incisors only vary from ²⁄₂ to ⁴⁄₂ in the Leporines.

1888, Elliott Coues, “Order II.—Rodentia.”, in John Sterling Kingsley, editor, The Riverside Natural History, volume V (Mammals), London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., […], →OCLC, page 70:

+Trischizolagus has been proposed as a probable Oryctolagus ancestor, as well as for Lepus and other leporines, although no transitional populations have yet been found.

2008, Nieves Lopez-Martinez, “The Lagomorph Fossil Record and the Origin of the European Rabbit”, in Paulo C[élio] Alves, Nuno Ferrand, Klaus Hackländer, editors, Lagomorph Biology: Evolution, Ecology, and Conservation, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, page 41:

The western Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera) have an insular history since the Miocene, and are famed for the unique caprine Myotragus (a goat relative) and endemic leporines (rabbits). […] [R]aptors coevolved with the insular radiations of rodents, leporines, and larger mammals.

2009, Trevor H[enry] Worthy, “Fossil Birds”, in Rosemary G. Gillespie, David A. Clague, editors, Encyclopedia of Islands (Encyclopedias of the Natural World; 2), Berkeley, Los Angeles, Calif., London: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 321, column 1:

They [the Mexican volcano rabbit and the South African red rock hare] may be leftovers of a primitive stock because their distribution is peripheral to that of the advanced leporines.

2021, Alexandra van der Geer, George Lyras, John de Vos, “Japan: the Southern and Central Ryukyu Islands”, in Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands, 2nd edition, Hoboken, N.J., Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell, →ISBN, page 370:

Synonym of leporid (“any mammal of the family Leporidae: the hares and rabbits”).

leporid

I come now to the more interesting part of my subject, viz. that of the Leporines—hybrids, so called, between the hare and the rabbit. It has been stated that M. Rouy, of Angoulême, has bred for the market a thousand of these Leporines yearly—that they are fertile both with the hare and the rabbit, and with each other.

1861 February 26, Edwards Crisp, “On Some Points Relating to the Habits and Anatomy of the Oceanic and of the Freshwater Ducks, and also of the Hare (Lepus timidus) and of the Rabbit (L. cuniculus), in Relation to the Question of Hybridism”, in Prideaux John Selby, Charles C[ardale] Babington, John Edward Gray, William Francis, editors, The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, including Zoology, Botany, and Geology, volume VIII (Third Series), number 43, London: Taylor and Francis […], published July 1861, →OCLC, page 75:

In France there is a hybrid bred between the rabbit and the hare, known as the leporine, that is said to be fertile; I do not know much about it. I tried to get some definite information on the matter and failed. I simply know that I have seen numers of statements going the rounds of the press that the leporine is a valuable poultry animal raised for food, and is a cross between the hare and the rabbit, and that it is fertile. If so, it is the only case I know of where the continued fertility is kept up.

1887, W[illia]m H[enry] Brewer, “Syllabus of Lectures on the Principles of Stock Breeding [Fourth Lecture. Crossing—Breeding to Points.]”, in Report of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Minnesota: Supplement I to the Fourth Biennial Report of the Board of Regents. 1886, St. Paul, Minn.: The Pioneer Press Company, →OCLC, page 213:

Mr. Thomas Christy enquired what position the so-called Belgian Hare or Leporine occupied in relation to the question of hybridity; and was answered that the popular notion of that animal being a hybrid between Hare and Rabbit was fallacious, since it was nothing more than an overgrown tame Rabbit coloured like a Hare.

1897 February, “Editorial Gleanings”, in W[illiam] L[ucas] Distant, editor, The Zoologist: A Monthly Journal of Natural History, volume I (4th series), number 668, London: West, Newman, & Co., […]; Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, page 96:

[…] [Charles] Darwin was intrigued by contemporary experiments claiming to have produced hare–rabbit crosses or ‘leporines’ (‘most curious, if true’), […] [T]hose supporting the existence of leporines were giving credence to a creature as actually imposible and fabulous as the horned hare.

2010, Simon Carnell, “Lagographia Curiosa: The Natural and Unnatural History of the Hare”, in Hare (Animal Series), London: Reaktion Books, →ISBN, page 16:

(historical) A supposed hybrid between a hare and a rabbit, now known not to exist; a leporide.


climb

en-verb

climb (third-person singular simple present climbs, present participle climbing, simple past climbed or (archaic) clomb, past participle climbed or (archaic) clumb)

climbs (present singular third-person)
climbing (participle present)
climbed (past)
clomb (archaic past)
climbed (participle past)
clumb (archaic participle past)
climb (infinitive)
climb (first-person present singular)
climbed (first-person past singular)
clomb (archaic first-person past singular)
climb (present second-person singular)
climbest (archaic present second-person singular)
climbed (past second-person singular)
climbedst (archaic past second-person singular)
clomb (archaic past second-person singular)
climbs (present singular third-person)
climbeth (archaic present singular third-person)
climbed (past singular third-person)
clomb (archaic past singular third-person)
climb (plural present)
climbed (past plural)
clomb (archaic past plural)
climb (present subjunctive)
climbed (past subjunctive)
clomb (archaic past subjunctive)
climb (imperative present)
climbing (participle present)
climbed (participle past)
clumb (archaic participle past)

From Middle English climben, from Old English climban (“to climb”), from Proto-West Germanic *klimban, from Proto-Germanic *klimbaną (“to climb, go up by clinging”), believed to be a nasalised variant of Proto-Germanic *klibaną, *klibāną (“to stick, cleave”), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“to stick”). Cognate with West Frisian klimme (“to climb”), Dutch klimmen (“to climb”), German klimmen (“to climb”), Old Norse klembra (“to squeeze”), Icelandic klifra (“to climb”). Related to clamber. See also clay, glue.

inh

(botany) Of plants, to grow upwards by clinging to something.

gabear

of plants: to grow upwards by clinging to something


cheek

en-noun

cheek (countable and uncountable, plural cheeks)

From Middle English cheeke, cheke, cheoke, choke, from Old English ċēce, ċēace, ċēoce (“cheek; jaw”), from Proto-West Germanic *kākā, *keukā (“jaw, cheek”), from Proto-Germanic *kēkǭ, *keukǭ (“jaw; palate; pharynx”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵyewh₁- (“to chew”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sooke (“cheek”), West Frisian tsjeak (“jaw”), Dutch kaak (“jaw; cheek”), Swedish käke (“jaw; jowl”), Norwegian kjake (“jaw”), Old Norse kók (“mouth; gullet”).

der

(biology, informal) One of the genae, flat areas on the sides of a trilobite's cephalon.


canker

en-noun

canker (countable and uncountable, plural cankers)

From Middle English canker, cancre, from Old English cancer (“cancer; crab”), akin to Dutch kanker, Old High German chanchar. Ultimately from Latin cancer (“a cancer”). Doublet of cancer, a later borrowing from Latin, and chancre, which came through French.

(phytopathology) A plant disease marked by gradual decay.


curl

From metathesis of Middle English crulle (“curled, curly”), from Middle Dutch crul, crulle (“curl”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kruzlǭ (“bent or crooked object, curl”), of unknown origin; possibly from Pre-Germanic *grus-, contracted from Proto-Indo-European *gurus- (“twist, curl”), same source as Persian گرس (gors, “braid of hair”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Krulle (“curl, lock”), West Frisian krul (“curl”), Dutch krul (“curl”), German Low German Krull (“curl”), dialectal German Krolle (“curl”), Danish krølle (“curl”), Norwegian krull (“curl”). Related also to Saterland Frisian Kruus (“curl”), German kraus (“frizzy, crumpled, curly”), Danish krus (“curl”), Swedish krusa (“to crimp, curl”). Compare also Gothic 𐌺𐍂𐌹𐌿𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽 (kriustan, “to grind, crush, gnash”).

unk

unknown

cog

These potatoes, however, planted the next year, have a fair yield, untouched by the curl.

1840, "Farmers' Department", The Family Magazine, volume 1, page 227:

(agriculture, phytopathology, uncountable) Any of various diseases of plants causing the leaves or shoots to curl up; often specifically the potato curl.


ranine

From Latin rānīnus, from rāna (“frog”) + -īnus (“of or pertaining to”).

In the Cenozoic, extensive radiation took place in this family in Africa among the endemic phrynobatrachines, arthroleptines, hemisines, and the more wide-ranging ranines.

1973, Jay M[athers] Savage, “Ranidae”, in James L. Vial, editor, Evolutionary Biology of the Anurans: Contemporary Research on Major Problems, Columbia, Mo.: University of Missouri Press, →ISBN, part III (Acoustic, Genetic, and Geographic Considerations), chapter 13 (The Geographic Distribution of Frogs: Patterns and Predictions), page 425:

Two major invasions into Eurasia are postulated: the first involving the Raninae, which gave rise to (a) those ranines that eventually dispersed to the New World and (b) the Platymantinae of Southeast Asia and Australasia, and the second involving the Rhacophorinae.

1974, Joel Cracraft, “Continental Drift and Vertebrate Distribution”, in Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, volume 5, Palo Alto, Calif.: Annual Reviews, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 231:

The ranids consisted of ranines and the stock that gave rise to the mantellines.

1986, William E[dward] Duellman, Linda Trueb, “Madagascar-Seychelles-Australia”, in Biology of Amphibians, Johns Hopkins Paperbacks edition, Baltimore, Md.; London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, published 1994, part 4 (Evolution), chapter 18 (Biogeography), “Anura” section, page 487, column 2:

The ranines occupy fertilization environments within bodies of water (aquatic) and the African rhacophorids in a foam nest on a tree branch (terrestrial).

1995 January, B[rian] A. Wilson, G[erhard] v[an] d[er] Horst, A[lan] Channing, “A comparison of Ranid versus Rhacophorid sperm: two extremes”, in Madoqua: Journal of Nature Conservation Research, South West Africa, volume 19, number 1, Windhoek: Nature Conservation and Tourism Division of the South West Africa Administration, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 61:

(zoology) A frog of the subfamily Raninae.


complicated

en-adj

complicated (comparative more complicated, superlative most complicated)

more complicated (comparative)
most complicated (superlative)

(biology) Folded longitudinally (as in the wings of certain insects).


decay

en-noun

decay (countable and uncountable, plural decays)

From Middle English decayen, dekeyen (“to decrease, diminish”), from Anglo-Norman decaeir (“to fall away, decay, decline”), from Vulgar Latin *dēcadere, etymologically restored form of Latin dēcidere (“to fall away, fail, sink, perish”), from de (“down”) + cadere (“to fall”). Compare decadent and decadence.

der

I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable. It struck me as singularly odd, that among the universal decay, this volatile substance had chanced to survive, perhaps through many thousand years.

1895, H. G. Wells, chapter X, in The Time Machine:

(ecology, medicine) The process or result of being gradually decomposed; rot, decomposition.

דעיכה

e.g. radioactive decay - דעיכה רדיואקטיבית


ejaculate

en-verb

ejaculate (third-person singular simple present ejaculates, present participle ejaculating, simple past and past participle ejaculated)

ejaculates (present singular third-person)
ejaculating (participle present)
ejaculated (participle past)
ejaculated (past)

Borrowed from Latin ēiaculātus, perfect active participle of ēiaculor (“to hurl, shoot out”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) and -ate (noun-forming suffix)), from ē (“out”) + iaculor (“throw, dart”), from iaculum (“a missile, a dart”), from iaciō (“to throw, to hurl”).

The spermatophores begin to ejaculate immediately after leaving the penis and the whole process is completed in a very few seconds. Pulling the filament attached to the ejaculatory end of a spermatophore is all that is needed to start its ejaculation.

1910 June 20, Gilman A. Drew, “Sexual Activities of the Squid, Loligo pealii (Les.). I. Copulation, Egg-laying and Fertilization”, in Journal of Morphology, volume 22, number 2, Philadelphia, Pa.: Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology, published 1911, page 334:

(biology, transitive) To eject or suddenly throw fluid or some other substance from a duct or other body structure.


alga

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-alga.wav

For example, the antitumour depsipeptide kahalalide F was isolated from the opisthobranch mollusc Elysia rufescens, and is used by both the mollusc and its dietary alga Bryopsis spp.

2016 January 21, “Choose Your Weaponry: Selective Storage of a Single Toxic Compound, Latrunculin A, by Closely Related Nudibranch Molluscs”, in PLOS ONE, →DOI:

(biology) Any of many aquatic photosynthetic organisms, including the seaweeds, whose size ranges from a single cell to giant kelps and whose biochemistry and forms are very diverse, some being eukaryotic.

algë

any of many aquatic photosynthetic organisms

green alga and red alga in Plantae)

Chlorophyta and Charophyta; Rhodophyta and Glaucophyta


anneal

anneal (third-person singular simple present anneals, present participle annealing, simple past and past participle annealed)

anneals (present singular third-person)
annealing (participle present)
annealed (participle past)
annealed (past)
aneal (alternative)

From Middle English anelen, onelen, from Old English onǣlan (“to burn, ignite, set fire to, consume, heat, enlighten, incite, inflame, inspire, kindle”), from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on”) + Proto-Germanic *ailijaną (“to burn”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eydʰ- (“to burn”). The double-N spelling may have arisen by analogy with Latinate verbs like announce, annex, and annul.
The word is related to Old English onāl (“that which is burnt, burning; incense”), Old English āl (“fire, burning”), Icelandic eldur (“fire”), Swedish eld (“fire, flame”), Danish ild (“fire”).

cog

National Archives and Record Administration

The 5′ junction is checked using a target gene-specific primer of ~21 nucleotides, which anneals upstream of the cassette integration site, together with a primer which anneals downstream of the first loxP site in the PCR cassette.

2007, Celine I. Maeder, Peter Maier, Michael Knop, “A Guided Tour to PCR-based Genomic Manipulations of S. Cerevisiae (PCR-targeting)”, in Ian Stansfield, Michael J. R. Stark, editors, Yeast Gene Analysis (Methods in Microbiology; 36), 2nd edition, London: Academic Press, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 68:

(genetics, ambitransitive) To make a double-stranded nucleic acid by pairing a single strand with a complementary strand.


atrium

From Latin ātrium (“entry hall”), from Etruscan.

(biology) Any enclosed body cavity or chamber.

Nexine 0.5μ thick, separating from the sexine about 5μ from the pore and forming a deep, well-defined atrium.

1965, Janet Kircher Warter, Palynology of a Lignite of Lower Eocene (Wilcox) Age from Kemper County, page 52:

(palynology) A cavity inside a porate aperture of a pollen grain formed by the separation of the sexine and nexine layers, widening toward the interior of the grain.


axon

axons (plural)
axone (alternative dated)

(cytology) A nerve fibre which is a long slender projection of a nerve cell, and which conducts nerve impulses away from the body of the cell to a synapse.


biota

From New Latin biota, from Ancient Greek βιοτή (biotḗ), from βίος (bíos).

Although the broad macroevolutionary consequences of mass extinctions are well known (as in the dinosaurs-mammals changeover), their long-term effects on the temporal and spatial dynamics of clades and biotas are rarely investigated.

2009 February 6, Andrew Z. Krug et al., “Signature of the End-Cretaceous Mass Extinction in the Modern Biota”, in Science, volume 323, number 5915, →DOI, pages 767–771:

(ecology) The living organisms of a region.


biotic

From Ancient Greek βιωτικός (biōtikós, “of life”), from βίος (bíos, “life”). Equivalent to bio- + -otic.

der

This study and others at Bolinas Lagoon show that a number of variables, both biotic and abiotic, influence individual, local and regional distribution patterns of Dunlin.

1994, Nils D. Warnock, Biotic and Abiotic Factors Affecting the Distribution and Abundance of a Wintering Population of Dunlin, page 141:

(biology) Of, pertaining to, or produced by life or living organisms

حَيَوِيّ

of, pertaining to, or produced by life or living organisms


bract

bracts (plural)
bracte (alternative)
bractea (alternative)

From Latin bractea (“a thin plate of metal; gold leaf”).

In this vegetable monster the bractes, or divisions of the spike, become wonderfully enlarged; and are converted into leaves.

1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 9:

A Verticil or Whirl may be[…]Naked; that is without involucre, bracte or brittle. Bracted - or Involucred

1793, Thomas Martyn, The Language of Botany:

Great dense patches of them grew, four and five and six feet deep, impenetrable swathes of dark green bracts that advertised their danger.

2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 31:

(botany) A leaf or leaf-like structure from the axil out of which a stalk of a flower or an inflorescence arises.


casein

en-noun

casein (countable and uncountable, plural caseins)

caseins (plural)
caseine (alternative dated)

From French caséine, formed from Latin cāseus (“cheese”) + -ine.

It’s the clumping nature of the caseins that makes possible most thickened milk products, from yogurt to cheese. The whey proteins play a more minor role; they influence the texture of casein curds, and stabilize the milk foams on specialty coffees.

2004, Harold McGee, chapter 1, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN:

(biochemistry) A protein present in both milk and in the seeds of leguminous plants


catkin

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-catkin.wav

From Middle Dutch katteken (“catkin”, literally “little cat”). So named due to the resemblance of lengthier kinds to a kitten's tail, or, perhaps more probably, the fine fur found on some catkins (compare the pictures). Cognate with German Kätzchen, modern Dutch katje. By surface analysis, cat + -kin.

der

(botany) A type of inflorescence, consisting of an axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar.


chive

chives (plural)
chithe (alternative)
chire (alternative)

From Middle English chive, chyve, variant of chith, chyth, from Old English ċīþ (“shoot, scion, sprout”). Doublet of chit and scion.

inh

(botany) The filament which supports the anther of a flower; stamen.


codon

(biochemistry) A sequence of three adjacent nucleotides, which encode for a specific amino acid during protein synthesis or translation.


corona

en-noun

corona (plural coronas or coronae or (obsolete) coronæ)

coronas (plural)
coronae (plural)
coronæ (obsolete plural)

→ Japanese: コロナ (korona)

The noun is borrowed from Latin corōna (“crown; garland, wreath”), from Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “type of crown; curved object (door handle, tip of a bow, stern of a ship, etc.)”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). The English word is a doublet of crown, korona, koruna, krona, króna, and krone.
The plural form coronae is borrowed from Latin corōnae.
The verb is derived from the noun.

laki

upper or crownlike portion of certain parts of the body

kruunu

Pentándria, Digynia. All as in Stapèlia; but the corolla is tuberculate, and the branches of the plant warted; and the outer corona of the corolla lacerately multifid.

1838, George Don, A General History of the Dichleamydeous Plants, […], volume IV (Corollifloræ), London: […] [Gilbert & Rivington] for J. G. and F. Rivington; […], page 122, column 2:

(biology) Any appendage of an organism that resembles a crown or corona (sense 4.1).

(botany) A ring or set of appendages of adaxial tissue arising from the corolla or the outer edge of the stamens, present in some plants (Narcissus, Passiflora, etc.); a paraperigonium or paracorolla.

kruunu

ring or set of appendages of adaxial tissue arising from the corolla or the outer edge of the stamens, present in some plants — see also paraperigonium

It [Epiphanes] has a ciliated corona at its anterior end and tapers to a narrow foot at the posterior end. The cilia of the corona are arranged more or less in two rings, with the mouth in the gap between them.

1979, R[obert] McNeill Alexander, “Rotifers”, in The Invertebrates, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 230:

An annular ciliated organ on the head of rotifers, used for locomotion and sweeping food into the mouth.

korona

In coronae of the sea urchin Echinocyamus pusillus in the marine bed overlying the oncoid layer, an original Mg_(0.10–0.13)-calcite was gradually replaced during diagenesis by a Mg_(0.03–0.05)-calcite[…].

1983, D. K. Richter, R. Sedat, “Brackish-water Oncoids Composed of Blue-green and Red Algae from a Pleistocene Terrace near Corinth, Greece”, in Tadeusz M. Peryt, editor, Coated Grains, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, →DOI, →ISBN, part IV (Oncoids), page 306:

The main body of the test of an echinoid, consisting of ambulacral and interambulacral areas.

A normal Crinoid (Fig. III.) consists of a “crown” (corona) attached by its dorsal (i.e. aboral) extremity to a “stem” (columna), which is fixed to the sea-floor or to some solid body by a “root” (radix).

1900, F[rancis] A[rthur] Bather, J. W. Gregory, E[dwin] S[tephen] Goodrich, “The Crinoidea”, in E[dwin] Ray Lankester, editor, A Treatise on Zoology, part III (The Echinoderma), London: Adam & Charles Black, →OCLC, page 99:

The crown of a crinoid, consisting of a cuplike central body (theca) and a set of arms.

Coronaviruses are medium-sized, enveloped, ribonucleic acid viruses which, in negatively stained preparations, appear round and bear a corona of irregular, petal-shaped surface projections.

1972 October, Lawrence S. Sturman, Kenneth K. Takemoto, “Enhanced Growth of a Murine Coronavirus in Transformed Mouse Cells”, in Infection and Immunity, volume 6, number 4, Washington, D.C.: American Society for Microbiology, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2020-03-22, page 501, column 1:

(virology) A fringe of large, bulbous surface projections on coronaviruses, formed by viral spike peplomers, creating an appearance reminiscent of the solar corona.

korona

fringe of large, bulbous surface projects on coronaviruses

[page 317] The lower jaw conſiſts of one large bone, with fore and hinder part, and five proceſſes; viz. two Condyles[…], two proceſſes of the Corona[…], and one proceſs of the chin […] [page 318] [T]his Sinus deſcends obliquely nine inches from the neck of the condyle, till it comes to the root of the teeth[…]; which ſpace does not appear ſo large in the figure, becauſe of the poſition of the jaw; and from the fore-part of the Coronæ backwards, till the jaw become thick, five inches and ⅓; […]

1740, [Patrick] Blair, “The Osteology of an Elephant, with a Brief Account of Its Parts”, in Baddam, Memoirs of the Royal Society; Being a New Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions: […], volume V, London: […] G. Smith, […], and sold by T[homas] Cooper, […]; and W[alter] Shropshire, […], →OCLC, pages 317 and 318:


distemper

en-noun

distemper (countable and uncountable, plural distempers)

From Old French destemprer, from Latin distemperare.

(veterinary medicine, pathology) A viral disease of animals, such as dogs and cats, characterised by fever, coughing and catarrh.


cyanic

en-adj

cyanic (comparative more cyanic, superlative most cyanic)

more cyanic (comparative)
most cyanic (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cyanic.wav

(botany, of a flower) Containing an anthocyanin


cycad

From translingual Cycas (“genus of tropical trees”).

bor

As has been already remarked, the occurrence of genuine Cycads in the Carboniferous vegetation has not been demonstrated, and the same holds good of all the Palaeozoic floras. True Cycads, therefore, so far as known, make their first appearance in the Trias, at the commencement of the Mesozoic period, where they are represented by the genera Pterophyllum, Zamites, and Podozamites.

1872, Henry Alleyne Nicholson, A Manual of Palaeontology for the Use of Students with a General Introduction on the Principles of Palaeontology:

Then, after incomputable years, he was no longer man but a man-like beast, roving in forests of giant fern and calamite, or building an uncouth nest in the boughs of mighty cycads.

I began to count the pools, each a flare of turquoise light lost behind the high walls of the villas with their screens of cycads and bougainvillaea.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 7:

(botany) Any plant of the division Cycadophyta, having a stout and woody trunk with a crown of large, hard and stiff, evergreen leaves.


farina

en-noun

farina (countable and uncountable, plural farinas)

Borrowed from Latin farīna (“flour, meal”), from far (“kind of grain”).

(botany) A powdery, pale yellow, crystalline secretion consisting of flavonoids in Primula and other species.


fletch

A modification of fledge (“to acquire feathers”) due to the influence of fletcher (“arrow-maker”). Compare flèche.

(fisheries) A large boneless fillet of halibut, swordfish or tuna.


gall

From Middle English galle, from Old French galle, from Latin galla (“oak-apple”).

Even so, Redi retained a belief that in certain other cases—the origin of parasites inside the human or animal body or of grubs inside of oak galls—there must be spontaneous generation. Bit by bit the evidence grew against such views. In 1670 Jan Swammerdam, painstaking student of the insect’s life cycle, suggested that the grubs in galls were enclosed in them for the sake of nourishment and must come from insects that had inserted their semen or their eggs into the plants.

1974, Philip P. Wiener, editor, Dictionary of the History of Ideas:

(phytopathology) A blister or tumor-like growth found on the surface of plants, caused by various pathogens, especially the burrowing of insect larvae into the living tissues, such as that of the common oak gall wasp (Cynips quercusfolii).


gape

gape (countable and uncountable, plural gapes)

From Middle English gapen, from Old Norse gapa (“to gape”) (compare Swedish gapa, Danish gabe), from Proto-Germanic *gapōną (descendants Middle English geapen, Dutch gapen, German gaffen), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰеh₂b-. Cognates include Russian зяпа (zjapa).

(zoology) The maximum opening of the mouth (of a bird, fish, etc.) when it is open.


gyrate

en-adj

gyrate (comparative more gyrate, superlative most gyrate)

more gyrate (comparative)
most gyrate (superlative)

From gyrus (“fold, convolution”) + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).


hilum

Learned borrowing from Latin hīlum (“a trifle; a spot on a seed”).

lbor

The hilum is very prominent in some species and nearly flat in others.

1913, Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, volume III, Washington, D.C.: Washington Academy of Sciences, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 141:

On the tip of each corn kernel is a hilum, collectively known as the "black layer," where it is attached to the cob. While corn is growing, nutrients are being transferred from the rest of the cob to the kernels through the hilum.

2005, David Feldman, Do Elephants Jump? (Imponderables Book), New York, N.Y.: HarperCollins Publishers, →ISBN, page 24:

(botany) The eye of a bean or other seed; the mark or scar at the point of attachment of an ovule or seed to its base or support.

In central hilum starch grains the grain is laid down around the hilum in the form of concentric layers.

1916, William Mansfield, Histology of Medicinal Plants, New York, N.Y.: John Wiley & Sons, →OCLC, page 188:


hooper

Cygnus cygnus
Cygnus cygnus#Translingual

(ornithology) The European whistling, or wild, swan (Cygnus cygnus).


iris

irises (plural)
iris (plural)
irides (plural)

From Middle English [Term?], from Latin īris, from Ancient Greek ἶρις (îris, “rainbow”). Presuming an earlier form *ϝῖρις (*wîris), possibly from a derivative of Proto-Indo-European *w(e)ih₁-ro- (“a twist, thread, cord, wire”), from *weh₁y- (“to turn, twist, weave, plait”). If so, it would be cognate to English wire.

der

Breezes blowing from beds of iris quickened her breath with their perfume; she saw the tufted lilacs sway in the wind, and the streamers of mauve-tinted wistaria swinging, all a-glisten with golden bees; she saw a crimson cardinal winging through the foliage, and amorous tanagers flashing like scarlet flames athwart the pines.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Afterglow”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 168:

(botany) A plant of the genus Iris, common in the northern hemisphere, and generally having attractive blooms (See Iris (plant) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia).

(zoology) The inner circle of an oscillated color spot.


labial

Borrowing from Medieval Latin labiālis (“of or pertaining to the lips”), from labium (“a lip”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix); equivalent to labium + -al.

af

The wound that does not kill Christ is the magical labial wound; it is the seal of the resurrection and an expression of the myth of eternal recurrence.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 109:

(anatomy, zootomy) Of or pertaining to the lips or labia.


labial

(zootomy) Any of the scales bordering the mouth opening of a reptile.


lappet

→ Welsh: llabed

Some vultures have lappets of bare flesh on the sides of the head.

Tompot blennies are distinguished by a pair of lappets above the eyes and dark stripes along the body.

(zoology) A wattle or flap-like structure on the face.

heltta (wattle)

zoology: wattle or flap-like structure on the face


legume

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-legume.wav

Borrowed from French légume, from Latin legūmen (“bean”). Doublet of legumen.

(botany) The fruit or seed of leguminous plants (as peas or beans) used for food.

(botany) Any of a large family (Fabaceae, syn. Leguminosae) of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs, and trees having fruits that are legumes or loments, bearing nodules on the roots that contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and including important food and forage plants (as peas, beans, or clovers).

(botany) A pod dehiscent into two pieces or valves, and having the seed attached at one suture, as that of the pea.


lemma

From the Ancient Greek λέμμα (lémma), from λέπω (lépō, “I peel”).

(botany) The outer shell of a fruit or similar body.

(botany) One of the specialized bracts around the floret in grasses.

niðara blómuøgn

botany: one of the specialized bracts around the floret in grasses


ligand

Borrowed from Latin ligandus, gerundive of ligo (“bind”).

ربيطة

something that binds to another chemical entity

(inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physical chemistry) A molecule or moiety (ion, functional group, or radical) that binds to another chemical entity to form a larger complex; as, especially:

(biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology, medicine) Such an entity that forms a complex with a biomolecule to serve a biological purpose.


lister

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-lister.wav

(birdwatching) A birdwatcher who keeps track of birds using different checklists.


lobule

lobules (plural)
lobula (alternative)
lobulus (alternative)

The Jubulaceae have a leaf whose lobule, usually transformed into a water-sac, is normally very narrowly attached to the stem and to the dorsal lobe; indeed some Frullania taxa reproduce vegetatively by dropping the dorsal lobes, but not the lobules, and Neohattoria has caducous lobules but persistent lobes.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 4:

(botany) In liverworts with bilobed leaves, the smaller of the two lobes, sometimes modified to form a sac.


lumper

(biology, linguistics) A scientist in one of various fields who prefers to keep categories such as species or dialects together in larger groups.


lysine

en-noun

lysine (countable and uncountable, plural lysines)

From lysis + -ine, in reference to its tendency to participate in catalysis.

Lysine is an essential amino acid required for many body functions, including growth and bone development in children; calcium absorption and maintenance of the correct nitrogen balance in the body; maintenance of lean body mass; production of antibodies, hormones, and enzymes; collagen formation and repair of tissue.

2010, Michael T. Murray, Joseph Pizzorno, The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 65:

essential amino acid
essential amino acid

(biochemistry) An essential amino acid, C₆H₁₄N₂O₂.


medial

en-adj

medial (comparative more medial, superlative most medial)

more medial (comparative)
most medial (superlative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-medial.wav

Borrowed from Latin mediālis (“middle”), from medius (“that is in the middle or midst”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix).

среден

The medial side of the knee faces the other knee, while the outer side of the knee is lateral.

Her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and medial collateral ligament (MCL) are torn and Vonn has a lateral fracture of the tibial plateau, the upper end of the tibia or shin bone.

2013 February 6, Jen Christiensen, “Vonn’s injury ‘career-delayer,’ not ‘career ender’”, in CNN:

Situated in or near the middle; not at either end.

(anatomy, zootomy) Pertaining to the inside; closer to the median plane of the body or the midline of an organ.

(entomology) Of or pertaining to the media and/or the areas of the wing next to it.


meson

From Ancient Greek μέσον (méson, “middle”). Doublet of medium.

(rare outside entomology) The mesial plane dividing the body into similar right and left halves.


monad

From Latin monas (“unit”) (from Ancient Greek μονάς (monás), from μόνος (mónos), from Proto-Indo-European *men-) + -ad.

(botany) A single individual (such as a pollen grain) that is free from others, not united in a group.

(biology, dated) A single-celled organism.


motif

From French motif (1848), with the meaning of "main idea or theme". Doublet of motive.

(biochemistry) In a nucleotide or aminoacid sequence, pattern that is widespread and has, or is conjectured to have, a biological significance.

motif

nucleotide or amino-acid sequence pattern


myosin

en-noun

myosin (countable and uncountable, plural myosins)

myo- (“relating to muscle”), from Ancient Greek μυός (muós), genitive of μῦς (mûs, “muscle”) + -in.

(biochemistry) Any of a large family of motor proteins found in eukaryotic tissues, allowing mobility in muscles.


nape

From Middle English nape, naape, of uncertain origin. Possibly from Old French hanap (“goblet”), from Frankish *hnapp, from Proto-Germanic *hnappaz ( > Old English hnæpp, hnæp (“cup, bowl, goblet”)), as there is a hollow at the base of the skull. More at nap.

(zoology) The part of a fish or bird immediately behind the head.


nereid

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-Nereid.wav


neural

From Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “a sinew, nerve”) + -al.

der

(biology) Of, or relating to the nerves, neurons or the nervous system.


neuron

neurons (plural)
neura (plural)
neurone (alternative)

From New Latin, from Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “nerve”), doublet of nerve and sinew. By surface analysis, neuro- + -on.

The yawning gap in neuroscientists’ understanding of their topic is in the intermediate scale of the brain’s anatomy. Science has a passable knowledge of how individual nerve cells, known as neurons, work. It also knows which visible lobes and ganglia of the brain do what. But how the neurons are organised in these lobes and ganglia remains obscure.

2013 August 3, “The machine of a new soul”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

(cytology) A cell of the nervous system, which conducts nerve impulses; consisting of an axon and several dendrites. Neurons are connected by synapses.

(zoology) A nervure of an insect's wing.


niacin

in 1942 derived from nicotinic + acid + vitamin, chosen to dissociate it from nicotine, to avoid the perception that vitamins or niacin-rich food contains nicotine, or that cigarettes contain vitamins.

Mixing the alkali into the recipe in the right way chemically releases the otherwise unavailable niacin in the corn, which stops pellagra in its tracks, and allowed corn-based agricultural populations to grow and spread.

2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 7, in The Secret of Our Success […] , Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

(organic chemistry, biochemistry) A water-soluble vitamin, a component of vitamin B complex, found in meat, yeast, and dairy products; it is essential to metabolism.

E375 when used as a colour retention agent


notate

Back-formation from notation or from Latin notātus, past participle of notāre. Morphologically note + -ate.

(botany) Marked with coloured spots or lines.


oocyte

(cytology) A cell that develops into an egg or ovum; a female gametocyte.


opal

In Florio’s A World of Words 1598 as opale, from French opale, from Latin opalus, from Byzantine Greek ὀπάλλιος (opállios), from Sanskrit उपल (upala, “gem, stone”), from उपरि (upári, “the upper millstone”). Distantly related to over.

أُوبَال

a mineral consisting, like quartz, of silica, but inferior to quartz in hardness and specific gravity

(biology, genetics, biochemistry) A colloquial name used in molecular biology referring to a particular stop codon sequence, "UGA."


opine

Derived from Ancient Greek ὀπός (opós, “juice of a plant”) + -ine.

der+

(biochemistry) Any of a class of organic compounds, derived from amino acids, found in some plant tumours

冠瘿氨基酸

any of a class of organic compounds, derived from amino acids, found in some plant tumours


ovate

en-adj

ovate (comparative more ovate, superlative most ovate)

more ovate (comparative)
most ovate (superlative)

(botany, of leaves) With the broadest extremity near the base.

puikea

botany, of leaves: broadest near the base


phloem

en-noun

phloem (countable and uncountable, plural phloems)

phloems (plural)
phlœm (alternative)
phloëm (alternative)
phlöem (alternative)

First attested in 1872. From German Phloëm, coined by Swiss botanist Carl Nägeli in 1858 from Ancient Greek φλόος (phlóos, “husk, bark”) + a Greek-sounding ending -em (cf. System).

der

(botany) A vascular tissue in land plants primarily responsible for the distribution of sugars and nutrients manufactured in the shoot.


pith

en-noun

pith (usually uncountable, plural piths)

The noun is derived from Middle English pith, pithe (“central tissue of a plant’s stem or a tree’s trunk and branches; other spongy inner tissue in a plant; flesh of a fruit, pulp; inner tissue in a body; inner part of an object; essential part, essence, quintessence; importance, value; energy, force, strength, vigour; severity”) [and other forms], from Old English piþa [and other forms], from Proto-Germanic *piþô, from earlier *piþō (oblique *pittan); further etymology unknown. Doublet of pit (“seed or stone inside a fruit”).
The verb is derived from the noun (Middle English pethen (“to give courage or strength”), from pith (noun), did not survive into modern English).
Cognates
* Dutch peen (“carrot”)
* Middle Low German peddek, peddik, piddek (“bone marrow; medulla; spinal cord; inner part of a horn or quill; (figurative) core, essence”) (the last spelling rare) (Low German Peddik (“core; pulp”))
* West Frisian piid (“pulp, kernel”)

nb...

peth, peþe, pight, piþ, piþe, piþþe, pyght, pyth, pythe, pytthe, pyþe, (Early Middle English) piþa

cog

This ſvveete ſmelling Reede is of a darke dun colour, full of ioints and knees eaſie to be broken into ſmall ſplinters, hollovv and full of a certaine vvhite pith, cobvveb vviſe, ſomevvhat gummie in eating, and hanging in the teeth, and of a ſharpe bitter taſte.

1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Aromaticall Reedes”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book I, page 56:

Some make inciſion into the very Vine braunch, as farre as to the pith and marrovv vvithin (to divert the moiſture that feedeth the grape:) others lay the cluſters a drying upon tile-houſes: and all this is done vvith the grapes of the Vine Helvenaca.

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XIV.] Foureteene Sorts of Sweet Wines.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 417:

Atop the [Palmito] tree is a pith, in taſte better then Cabbage; and eating it takes avvay the future benefit of grovvth or fructifying, theſe and the Date-tree thriue not, except the male and female be vnited, and haue copulation: the ſhe is only fruitfull.

1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “Mohelia, Its Description”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 24:

VVhy are the Annual Grovvths of all both Herbs and Trees, vvith great Piths, the quickeſt and longeſt? But hovv are the Pores and Bladders of the Pith permeable? That they are ſo, both from their being capable of a repletion vvith Sap, and of being again vvholly emptied of it, and again, inſtead thereof fill'd vvith Aer, is as certain as that they are Pores.

1671 December 17 (Gregorian calendar), Nehemiah Grew, “The Anatomy of Plants, Begun. […] The First Book. […] Chapter III. Of the Trunk.”, in The Anatomy of Plants. […], 2nd edition, [London]: […] W. Rawlins, for the author, published 1682, →OCLC, page 25:

The food often grows in one country, and the sauce in another. The fruits of Portugal are corrected by the products of Barbadoes, and the infusion of a China plant is sweetened by the pith of an Indian cane.

1711 May 30 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, May 19, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 69; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 278:

The soft, spongy substance inside plant parts; specifically, the parenchyma in the centre of the roots and stems of many plants and trees.

نُخَاع

The albedo (“whitish inner portion of the rind”) of a citrus fruit.


plasm

en-noun

plasm (countable and uncountable, plural plasms)

From Late Latin plasma (“mold”) or Ancient Greek πλάσμα (plásma, “something formed”), in some cases via German Plasma or French plasme, like English plasma.

der

"And that the germ plasm is different from the parthenogenetic egg?" "Why, surely!" I cried, and gloried in my own audacity.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:


pleura

From Middle English, borrowed from Medieval Latin pleura.

(zootomy) A lateral part in an animal body or structure.


puffin

From Middle English poffin, poffoun, puffon, equivalent to puff + -ing, or perhaps ultimately from Middle Cornish (compare Breton poc'han (“puffin”)).

(entomology) Any of various African and Asian pierid butterflies of the genus Appias. Some species of this genus are also known as albatrosses.


radix

PIE word
 *wréh₂ds
Learned borrowing from Latin rādīx (“a root”). Doublet of radish.


reeler

(genetics) An autosomal-recessive mouse mutant in which cortical neurons are generated normally but abnormally placed, a lack of reelin causing disorganization of cortical laminar layers. It has a reeling gait.


ribose

From German Ribose, formed from Ribonsäure, the first element of which comes from a rearrangement of English arabinose.

(biochemistry) A naturally occurring pentose sugar, which is a component of the nucleosides and nucleotides that constitute the nucleic acid biopolymer, RNA. It is also found in riboflavin.


ruff

Clipping of ruffle, or possibly from rough.

I ſhall call this bird the painted vulture. […] the head and neck bare of feathers nearly down to the ſtomach, when the feathers begin to cover the ſkin, and ſoon become long and of a ſoft texture, forming a ruff or tippet, in which the bird by contracting his neck can hide that as well as his head: […]

1794, William Bartram, chapter V, in Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws. Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of those Regions; together with Observations on the Manners of the Indians. Embellished with Copper-plates, 2nd London edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Printed by James and Johnson; London: Reprinted for J. Johnson, in St. Paul's Church-yard, →OCLC, pages 148–149:

In the ruffed grouse, the special "ruff" feathers are borne on the lateral branches of the lower cervical feather tract.

2016, Paul A[ustin] Johnsgard, “Introduction to the North American Grouse”, in The North American Grouse: Their Biology and Behavior, Lincoln, Neb.: Zea Books, →ISBN, page 9, column 1:

(ornithology) A set of lengthened or otherwise modified feathers on or around the neck of a bird.

höyhenkaulus

set of feathers on or around the neck of a bird

The Afghan urial, which is smaller than the Transcaspian urial, is found in the mountains near Iran's eastern frontier, and is the wild sheep of Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Its ruff is black sprinkled with white hairs and its bib is white.

2005, Eskandar Firouz, “Mammals of Iran”, in The Complete Fauna of Iran, London, New York, N.Y.: I.B. Tauris, →ISBN, page 88:

The creature coming toward me went instantly still. On the other side of the fire, one of them jerked upright and popped its ruff as wide as it would go. The other lunged to the side of the second and clamped one clawed hand around its muzzle.

2017 April, Marie Brennan [pseudonym; Bryn Neuenschwander], chapter 10, in Within the Sanctuary of Wings: A Memoir by Lady Trent, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, page 151:

(zoology) A collar of lengthened or distinctively coloured fur on or around the neck of an animal.

kaulus

collar of fur on or around the neck of an animal


rut

en-noun

rut (countable and uncountable, plural ruts)

From Middle English rutte (noun) and rutten (verb), from Old French rut (“noise, roar, bellowing”), from Latin rugītus, from rugīre (“to roar”).

der

(zoology) Sexual desire in any of many mammals, often specific to mating season.


sambar

sambars (plural)
sambhar (alternative)
sambhur (alternative)
sambur (alternative)
sambre (alternative obsolete)

Borrowed from Hindi सांभर (sāmbhar), साँभर (sāmbhar), from Sanskrit शम्बर (śambara, “a kind of deer”).

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sambar.wav

(zoology) A Southeast Asian deer (Rusa unicolor).


scat

en-noun

scat (countable and uncountable, plural scats)

scats (plural)
skat (alternative)
skatt (alternative)

Origin uncertain. Both the Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster suggest derivation from Ancient Greek σκῶρ (skôr, “excrement”), compare English scato-, but Random House Dictionary suggests that the popular character of the word makes this unlikely. Perhaps from English dialectal scat (“to scatter, fling, bespatter”), or an alteration of shit, which is also used for "drugs, heroin".

They turned to polar bear feces, or scat, as it is commonly called. […] She and Quinoa [a dog] worked with Dr. Rockwell to collect and study samples of polar bear scat for several years and found that the bears were eating lots of geese.

2014 September 22, James Gorman, “For polar bears, a climate change twist [print version: For hungry polar bears, a climate change twist, International New York Times, 24 September 2014, p 12]”, in The New York Times:

2018 Brent Butt as Brent Herbert Leroy, "Sasquatch Your Language", Corner Gas Animated
Wherever legitimate tracks are found there's always some fresh scat, y'know, poo, flop, dumplings.

(biology) Animal excrement; droppings, dung.


scutum

Borrowed from Latin scūtum (“shield”). Doublet of escudo, scudo, scute, and écu.

doublet

A tick's eye, if present, is a mere roundish lucent area at the margin of the scutum about opposite the second coxa.

2009, Dwight D. Bowman, Georgis' Parasitology for Veterinarians:

(zoology) A shield-like protection, such as the scutum protecting the back of a hard tick (cf. alloscutum, conscutum)

(zoology) One of the two lower valves of the operculum of a barnacle.


sepal

From French sépale, from New Latin sepalum.

1836, The Family Magazine, Or Monthly Abstract of General Knowledge, Volume III, Redfield & Lindsay, page 367,
When the sepals are distinct, or separate from each other, the calyx is said to be polysepalous.

The sepal and the petal are essentially leaf-like in form and anatomy but generally simpler in detailed structure than a foliage leaf.

2009, Shubhrata R. Mishra, Understanding Plant Reproduction, Discovery Publishing House, page 164:

In tomato, for example, the first sepal primordium is formed as an outgrowth at the periphery of the apex and the subsequent sepal primordia are initiated in a helical fashion at an angle of approximately 137° from the previous one.

2017, Taylor A. Steeves, Vipen K. Sawhney, Essentials of Developmental Plant Anatomy, Oxford University Press, page 29:

(botany) One of the component parts of the calyx, particularly when such components are not fused into a single structure.


serine

en-noun

serine (countable and uncountable, plural serines)

From Latin sericus (“silken”). The compound was first obtained from silk protein, a particularly rich source, in 1865.

nonessential amino acid
nonessential amino acid

(biochemistry) A nonessential amino acid, CH₂OH.CH(NH₂)COOH, found in most animal proteins, notably silk.

絲胺酸 /丝胺酸

nonessential amino acid; CH2OH.CH(NH2)COOH

絲氨酸 /丝氨酸 (sī'ānsuān, literally “silk amino acid”)


shunt

From Middle English shunten, schunten, schonten, schounten, shont, shonte, shount, shounten, shunte (“to move rapidly or suddenly, jerk; to swerve, turn away; to avoid, dodge, escape, evade”), either:
* possibly a back-formation from Middle English shǒnen (“to decline to do, refuse; to abandon, forsake; to disdain, dislike, hate; to avoid, escape; to be afraid, fear; to be wary of”), from Old English sċunian, sċyniġan; see shun. Or
* an alteration of Middle English shunden, *schunden, *schinden, from Old English sċyndan, sċendan (“to hasten, hurry”) (as in āsċyndan (“to remove, take away”), from Proto-West Germanic *skundijan, from Proto-Germanic *skundijaną (“to compel, drive, push; to accelerate, rush, speed up”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kew(n)t- (“to rattle, shake”).
* from unrecorded Old English *sċunettan, a derivative of sċunian (“to shun, avoid”).
The English word is cognate with Danish skynde (“to hasten, hurry, speed”), Icelandic skynda, skunda (“to hasten”), Middle High German schünden (“to compel; to urge; to irritate”), Norwegian skynde (“to hurry, rush”), Swedish skynda (“to hasten, hurry; to scuttle, scurry”). Outside Germanic, compare Sanskrit स्कन्दति (skándati, “to dart, leap, spring, spurt or burst forth, ejaculate, assail, drop, split”), Albanian shkund (“to shake; to swig”).
As regards the noun sense, compare Middle English shunt (“swerve; sudden jerk”), derived from the verb.

cog

Portosystemic shunts can be congenital or acquired with congenital PSS commonly comprising a single communicating vessel between the portal venous circulation and the systemic circulation via the caudal vena cava or azygos vein. Of congenital shunts, 66–75% are extrahepatic. Intrahepatic portosystemic shunts are most commonly identified in larger breeds of dog (though we have also seen a number of terriers with intrahepatic shunts through our clinic).

2018, Jon[athan David] Wray, “Case 11 Presenting with Mentation Abnormalities”, in Canine Internal Medicine: What’s Your Diagnosis?, Hoboken, N.J., Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, section C (Hepatobiliary Disease), page 127:

(medicine, veterinary medicine) An abnormal passage between body channels.


sib

From Middle English sib, sibbe, from Old English sibb (“relationship; gossip; friendliness, kindness; love, friendship, peace, concord, unity, tranquility; peace of mind; a relative, kinsman, kinswoman”), from Proto-West Germanic *sibbju, from Proto-Germanic *sibjō (“kinship”), from Proto-Indo-European *sebʰ-, *swebʰ- (“one's own”).
Cognate with West Frisian sibbe (“relative, family member”), Dutch sibbe (“sib”), German Sippe (“tribe, clan”), Icelandic sifjar (“in-laws”), Latin suus (“one's own”).

cog

(biology) Any group of animals or plants sharing a corresponding genetic relation


situs

Borrowed from Latin situs (“position, site”). Doublet of site and sitio.

(anatomy, botany) The position, especially the usual, normal position, of a body part or part of a plant.

(botany) The method in which the parts of a plant are arranged.


solute

en-adj

solute (comparative more solute, superlative most solute)

more solute (comparative)
most solute (superlative)

Borrowed from Latin solutus, past participle of solvo.

a solute stipule


soma

From New Latin, from Ancient Greek σῶμα (sôma, “body”).

(biology) The body of an organism in contrast to the germ cells.

(cytology) The bulbous part of a neuron, containing the cell nucleus.


spavin

en-noun

spavin (countable and uncountable, plural spavins)

The noun is derived from Middle English spavein, spaveine (“swelling on horse’s leg causing lameness; disease causing lameness in horses”), from Old French espavain, a variant of esparvain, esprevain, esprevin (modern French éparvin, épervin). The further etymology is unknown; one suggestion is that it is from Frankish *sparwan (“sparrow”), though this is seen as quite tenuous.
The verb is derived from the noun.

[H]is horſe hip'd vvith an olde mothy ſaddle, and ſtirrops of no kindred: beſides poſſeſt vvith the glanders, and like to moſe in the chine, troubled vvith the Lampaſſe, infected vvith the faſhions, full of VVindegalls, ſped vvith Spauins, raied vvith the Yellovvs, […]

c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 219, column 1:

Of ſpauens, there be tvvo kindes, the bone Spauen and the blood: for the bone Spauen, you ſhall dreſſe it in all things like the ſplent, and it vvil heale it. For the bloud ſpauen you ſhall take vp the veane, and vvhen it hath bled vve pull out the bladder vvhich holdes the ſpauen, and ſtop the vvound vvith Sage and ſalt, and it vvill heale it.

1607, Gervase Markham, “Of Spauens”, in Cauelarice, or The English Horseman: […], London: […] [Edward Allde and W[illiam] Jaggard] for Edward White, […], →OCLC, 7th book, page 78:

Doubtleſſe a Spauen is an euil ſorance, and cauſeth a horſe to haule principally in the beginning of his griefe, it appeareth on the hinder Legges vvithin, and againſt the ioynt, and it vvill bee a little ſvvolne, and ſome horſes haue a thorough Spauen, vvhich appeareth both vvithin and vvithout. Of the Spauen there are tvvo kindes, the one hard the other ſoft: That is: bone-Spauen, and a blood-Spauen, […] Caſt the horſe and vvith a hot yron ſlitte the fleſh that couereth the Spauen, and then lay vpon the Spauen, Cantharides and Euforbium boyled together in oile de Bay, […]

1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner], Edward Topsell, “Of the Horsse. [Of the Spauen, both Bone and Blood.]”, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 407:

Mr. Field had seen the same horses brought to his forge from day to day, and year to year, with large spavins, yet continuing perfectly sound.

1829 November 19, “Veterinary Medical Society, 21st Oct. 1829. Discussion on Mr. W. Percivall’s Paper on Soundness.”, in [William] Percivall, [William] Youatt, editors, The Veterinarian, volume II, number 24, London: […] Compton and Ritchie, […] [for] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green, […], published December 1829, →OCLC, page 509:

(countable) A bony swelling which develops in a horse's leg where the shank and splint bone meet, caused by inflammation of the cartilage connecting those bones; also, a similar swelling caused by inflammation of the hock bones.

[N]ovv the Bots, the Spauin, and the Glanders, and ſome doſen diſeaſes more, light on him, & his Moyles.

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act I, scene ii, signature B2, verso:

(uncountable) A disease of horses caused by this bony swelling (sense 1.1).


spavin

en-verb

spavin (third-person singular simple present spavins, present participle spavining, simple past and past participle spavined)

spavins (present singular third-person)
spavining (participle present)
spavined (participle past)
spavined (past)

Mr. Lythe had seen many horses which Mr. Field had passed as sound although they were spavined; and he does not recollect a single instance of lameness among them.

The witches that dance on the Brocken on Valpurgis Eve would be spoken of in a different spirit from the village hag who spavins the horse and curdles the milk.

1867, John Hill Burton, “Heathendom”, in The History of Scotland from Agricola’s Invasion to the Revolution of 1688, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, page 224:

And oh! Onesiphorus, the old brown mare / Is spavining for love, as also we; […]

1884 February 23, “Astray from San Rafael” [pseudonym], “Dudetic Leap Year”, in The Wasp, volume XII, number 8, San Francisco, Calif.: E[dward] C[reamor] Macfarlane & Co., →OCLC, stanza 4, page 11, column 1:

The plaintiff introduced evidence tending to prove that the horse was spavined, and that Kuntzman had warranted the soundness of the horse. The fourth exception on the part of the defendant and the plaintiff in error was to the rejection of the evidence that the horse was not spavined while in Weaver's stable, some two months after the sale.

1886, A[braham] C[lark] Freeman, “Kuntzman v. Weaver”, in The American Decisions […], volume LIX, San Francisco, Calif.: Bancroft-Whitney Co. […], →OCLC, page 740:

In order to obviate the straining, spavining, and weakness of back, to which horses are subject, caused by the effort of starting heavy cars, Mr. Henry P. Holt designed a tramcar starting gear, patented in May, 1879, […]

1894, D[aniel] Kinnear Clark, “Resistance to Traction on Tramways”, in Tramways: Their Construction and Working […], 2nd edition, London: Crosby Lockwood and Son […], →OCLC, page 402:

(farriery, veterinary medicine) To cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin (noun sense 1.2).

aiheuttaa kinnerpatti

to cause (a horse or its leg) to have spavin


taster

From Middle English taster; equivalent to taste + -er.

(zoology) A kind of zooid situated on the polyp-stem of certain Siphonophorae, resembling the feeding zooids, but destitute of mouths.


thrum

From Middle English thrum, throm (> Anglo-French trome), from Old English *þrum (found in tungeþrum (“ligament of the tongue”)) from Proto-Germanic *þrumą. Cognate with German Trumm, Trümmer and Old Norse thrǫmr (“edge, brim”).

(botany) A threadlike part of a flower; a stamen.

(botany) A tuft, bundle, or fringe of any threadlike structures, as hairs on a leaf, fibers of a root.


tibia

Borrowed from Latin tībia (“shin bone, leg”).

bor+

(entomology) The second segment from the end of an insect's leg, between the femur and tarsus.

(arachnology) The third segment from the end of an arachnid's leg, between the patella and metatarsus.


valine

en-noun

valine (countable and uncountable, plural valines)

(biochemistry) An essential amino acid 2-amino-3-methylbutanoic acid found in most animal proteins.


winker

From wink (“blinking of only one eye”) + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).

silmäniskijä

There is a third inner eyelid, highly developed and of beautiful mechanism: this is the nictitating membrane, or "winker" (nictito, I wink), a delicate, elastic, translucent, pearly-white fold of the conjunctiva. While the other lids move vertically and have a horizontal commissure, the winker sweeps horizontally or obliquely across the ball, from the side next the beak to the opposite.

1884, Elliott Coues, “§ 4.—An Introduction to the Anatomy of Birds.”, in Key to North American Birds. […], 2nd edition, Boston, Mass.: Estes and Lauriat, →OCLC, part II (General Ornithology), page 180:

nictitating membrane
nictitating membrane#English

A thing which is used to wink with, or which winks.

(ornithology) The nictitating membrane (“transparent protective fold of skin acting as an inner eyelid”) of a birds's eye.


xylem

en-noun

xylem (countable and uncountable, plural xylems)

From German Xylem, from Ancient Greek ξύλον (xúlon, “wood”).

(botany) A vascular tissue in land plants primarily responsible for the distribution of water and minerals taken up by the roots; also the primary component of wood.


troop

Attested in English since 1545, from French troupe (back-formation of troupeau, diminutive of Medieval Latin troppus "flock") and Middle French trouppe (from Old French trope (“band, company, troop”)), both of Germanic origin from Frankish *þorp (“assembly, gathering”), from Proto-Germanic *þurpą (“village, land, estate”), from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“dwelling, settlement”).
Doublet of troupe, and possibly also of thorp, dorp, and trip. Cognate with German Dorf (“village”).

der

(mycology) A group of mushrooms that are close but not close enough to be called a cluster.


altruism

en-noun

altruism (countable and uncountable, plural altruisms)

altruisms (plural)
altruïsm (alternative)

From French altruisme, which was coined in 1830 by Auguste Comte from autrui (“of or to others”) + -isme, from Old French, from Latin alteri, dative of alter (“other”) (whence also English alter). Apparently inspired by the French Latin legal phrase l'autrui, from le bien, le droit d'autrui (“the good, the right of the other”). Introduced into English by George Henry Lewes in 1853, in his translation Comte’s Philosophy of the Sciences, 1, xxi.

Altruism is a behaviour of an individual that benefits another at its own expense.[…]She decided to investigate what motivates ants to undertake these dangerous missions, where they risk getting trapped themselves or, worse, eaten by predatory antlion larvae, which dig pits and lurk, semi-concealed, at the bottom with their jaws wide open. Such apparently selfless rescue behaviour is seen by many as one of the purest forms of altruism.[…]Being nice to relatives is not pure altruism because they share your genes so, by helping them, you promote your own genetic heritage.

2013 December 24, Laura Spinney, Goodwill hunting: Random ants of kindness, New Scientist:

(biology, sociobiology) Action or behaviour that benefits another or others at some cost to the performer.