"cestrum" meaning in Latin

See cestrum in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: [ˈkɛs.trũː] [Classical-Latin], [ˈt͡ʃɛs.trum] (note: modern Italianate Ecclesiastical)
Etymology: Uncertain. * Possibly borrowed from Ancient Greek κέστρον (késtron) or κέστρος (késtros, “sharpness”), from the root of the verb κεντέω (kentéō, “to prick, sting, stab”). * Alternatively, from caed- (“to cut”) + -trum, from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id-, *kh₂eyd- (“to cut, hew”) + *-trom (“instrumental suffix”), related to Latin caelō (“carve”), caelum (“chisel”). Etymology templates: {{unk|la|Uncertain.}} Uncertain., {{bor|la|grc|κέστρον}} Ancient Greek κέστρον (késtron), {{suffix|la|caedo|trum|alt1=caed-|gloss1=to cut}} caed- (“to cut”) + -trum, {{der|la|ine-pro|*keh₂id-}} Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id-, {{cog|la|caelō||carve}} Latin caelō (“carve”) Head templates: {{la-noun|cestrum<2>|g1=n|g2=m|nom_sg=cestrum/cestron/cestrus/cestros}} cestrum or cestron or cestrus or cestros n or m (genitive cestrī); second declension Inflection templates: {{la-ndecl|cestrum<2>|acc_pl=cestra/cestrōs|acc_sg=cestrum/cestron|nom_pl=cestra/cestrī|nom_sg=cestrum/cestron/cestrus/cestros|voc_pl=cestra/cestrī|voc_sg=cestrum/cestron/cestre}} Forms: cestrum [canonical], cestron [canonical], cestrus [canonical], cestros [canonical, masculine, neuter], cestrī [genitive], no-table-tags [table-tags], cestrum [nominative, singular], cestron [nominative, singular], cestrus [nominative, singular], cestros [nominative, singular], cestra [nominative, plural], cestrī [nominative, plural], cestrī [genitive, singular], cestrōrum [genitive, plural], cestrō [dative, singular], cestrīs [dative, plural], cestrum [accusative, singular], cestron [accusative, singular], cestra [accusative, plural], cestrōs [accusative, plural], cestrō [ablative, singular], cestrīs [ablative, plural], cestrum [singular, vocative], cestron [singular, vocative], cestre [singular, vocative], cestra [plural, vocative], cestrī [plural, vocative], cestros [alternative], cestron [alternative]
  1. some tool used in encaustic painting on ivory Tags: declension-2 Related terms: cestrōtus

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "Uncertain."
      },
      "expansion": "Uncertain.",
      "name": "unk"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "κέστρον"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek κέστρον (késtron)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "caedo",
        "3": "trum",
        "alt1": "caed-",
        "gloss1": "to cut"
      },
      "expansion": "caed- (“to cut”) + -trum",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*keh₂id-"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id-",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "caelō",
        "3": "",
        "4": "carve"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin caelō (“carve”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Uncertain.\n* Possibly borrowed from Ancient Greek κέστρον (késtron) or κέστρος (késtros, “sharpness”), from the root of the verb κεντέω (kentéō, “to prick, sting, stab”).\n* Alternatively, from caed- (“to cut”) + -trum, from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id-, *kh₂eyd- (“to cut, hew”) + *-trom (“instrumental suffix”), related to Latin caelō (“carve”), caelum (“chisel”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cestrum",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrus",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestros",
      "tags": [
        "canonical",
        "masculine",
        "neuter"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrī",
      "tags": [
        "genitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "no-table-tags",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "table-tags"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "la-ndecl",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "inflection-template"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrum",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrus",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestros",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestra",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrī",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrī",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "genitive",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrōrum",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "genitive",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrō",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrīs",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrum",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestra",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrōs",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrō",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "ablative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrīs",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "ablative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrum",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "singular",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "singular",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestre",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "singular",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestra",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrī",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestros",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cestrum<2>",
        "g1": "n",
        "g2": "m",
        "nom_sg": "cestrum/cestron/cestrus/cestros"
      },
      "expansion": "cestrum or cestron or cestrus or cestros n or m (genitive cestrī); second declension",
      "name": "la-noun"
    }
  ],
  "inflection_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cestrum<2>",
        "acc_pl": "cestra/cestrōs",
        "acc_sg": "cestrum/cestron",
        "nom_pl": "cestra/cestrī",
        "nom_sg": "cestrum/cestron/cestrus/cestros",
        "voc_pl": "cestra/cestrī",
        "voc_sg": "cestrum/cestron/cestre"
      },
      "name": "la-ndecl"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Latin",
  "lang_code": "la",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Latin entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Latin masculine nouns in the second declension",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Latin neuter nouns in the second declension",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 2 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "la",
          "name": "Painting",
          "orig": "la:Painting",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "la",
          "name": "Tools",
          "orig": "la:Tools",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "At Rome during the youth of Marcus Varro, Iaia of Cyzicus, who never married, made portraits both with a paintbrush and with a cestrum in ivory, mostly of women, and a large painted panel of an old woman at Naples, also a portrait of herself made with a mirror.",
          "ref": "77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 35.147, (The artist's name here is sometimes alternatively read Lala or Laia)",
          "text": "Iaia Cyzicena, perpetua virgo, M. Varronis iuventa, Romae et penicillo pinxit et cestro in ebore imagines mulierum maxime et Neapoli anum in grandi tabula, suam quoque imaginem ad speculum.",
          "translation": "At Rome during the youth of Marcus Varro, Iaia of Cyzicus, who never married, made portraits both with a paintbrush and with a cestrum in ivory, mostly of women, and a large painted panel of an old woman at Naples, also a portrait of herself made with a mirror.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "Anciently there were two types of encaustic painting, with wax and in ivory with a cestrum (that is a small skewer/spit) until fleets started to be painted. This added a third type, using a brush with waxes melted by fire: this method of painting ships is not ruined by sun nor by salt or winds.",
          "ref": "77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 35.149",
          "text": "encausto pingendi duo fuere antiquitus genera cera et in ebore cestro id est vriculo donec classes pingi coepere hoc tertium accessit resolutis igni ceris penicillo utendi quae pictura navibus nec sole nec sale ventisve corrumpitur",
          "translation": "Anciently there were two types of encaustic painting, with wax and in ivory with a cestrum (that is a small skewer/spit) until fleets started to be painted. This added a third type, using a brush with waxes melted by fire: this method of painting ships is not ruined by sun nor by salt or winds.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "some tool used in encaustic painting on ivory"
      ],
      "id": "en-cestrum-la-noun-QIBLNHAq",
      "links": [
        [
          "encaustic",
          "encaustic#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "cestrōtus"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "declension-2"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈkɛs.trũː]",
      "tags": [
        "Classical-Latin"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈt͡ʃɛs.trum]",
      "note": "modern Italianate Ecclesiastical"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cestrum"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "Uncertain."
      },
      "expansion": "Uncertain.",
      "name": "unk"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "κέστρον"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek κέστρον (késtron)",
      "name": "bor"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "caedo",
        "3": "trum",
        "alt1": "caed-",
        "gloss1": "to cut"
      },
      "expansion": "caed- (“to cut”) + -trum",
      "name": "suffix"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*keh₂id-"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id-",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "la",
        "2": "caelō",
        "3": "",
        "4": "carve"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin caelō (“carve”)",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Uncertain.\n* Possibly borrowed from Ancient Greek κέστρον (késtron) or κέστρος (késtros, “sharpness”), from the root of the verb κεντέω (kentéō, “to prick, sting, stab”).\n* Alternatively, from caed- (“to cut”) + -trum, from Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id-, *kh₂eyd- (“to cut, hew”) + *-trom (“instrumental suffix”), related to Latin caelō (“carve”), caelum (“chisel”).",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "cestrum",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrus",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestros",
      "tags": [
        "canonical",
        "masculine",
        "neuter"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrī",
      "tags": [
        "genitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "no-table-tags",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "table-tags"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "la-ndecl",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "inflection-template"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrum",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrus",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestros",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestra",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrī",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "nominative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrī",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "genitive",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrōrum",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "genitive",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrō",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrīs",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "dative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrum",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestra",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrōs",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "accusative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrō",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "ablative",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrīs",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "ablative",
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrum",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "singular",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "singular",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestre",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "singular",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestra",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestrī",
      "source": "declension",
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "vocative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestros",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "cestron",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cestrum<2>",
        "g1": "n",
        "g2": "m",
        "nom_sg": "cestrum/cestron/cestrus/cestros"
      },
      "expansion": "cestrum or cestron or cestrus or cestros n or m (genitive cestrī); second declension",
      "name": "la-noun"
    }
  ],
  "inflection_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cestrum<2>",
        "acc_pl": "cestra/cestrōs",
        "acc_sg": "cestrum/cestron",
        "nom_pl": "cestra/cestrī",
        "nom_sg": "cestrum/cestron/cestrus/cestros",
        "voc_pl": "cestra/cestrī",
        "voc_sg": "cestrum/cestron/cestre"
      },
      "name": "la-ndecl"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Latin",
  "lang_code": "la",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "cestrōtus"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Latin 2-syllable words",
        "Latin entries with incorrect language header",
        "Latin lemmas",
        "Latin masculine nouns",
        "Latin masculine nouns in the second declension",
        "Latin neuter nouns",
        "Latin neuter nouns in the second declension",
        "Latin nouns",
        "Latin nouns with multiple genders",
        "Latin second declension nouns",
        "Latin terms with IPA pronunciation",
        "Latin terms with quotations",
        "Latin terms with unknown etymologies",
        "Pages with 2 entries",
        "Pages with entries",
        "la:Painting",
        "la:Tools"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "english": "At Rome during the youth of Marcus Varro, Iaia of Cyzicus, who never married, made portraits both with a paintbrush and with a cestrum in ivory, mostly of women, and a large painted panel of an old woman at Naples, also a portrait of herself made with a mirror.",
          "ref": "77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 35.147, (The artist's name here is sometimes alternatively read Lala or Laia)",
          "text": "Iaia Cyzicena, perpetua virgo, M. Varronis iuventa, Romae et penicillo pinxit et cestro in ebore imagines mulierum maxime et Neapoli anum in grandi tabula, suam quoque imaginem ad speculum.",
          "translation": "At Rome during the youth of Marcus Varro, Iaia of Cyzicus, who never married, made portraits both with a paintbrush and with a cestrum in ivory, mostly of women, and a large painted panel of an old woman at Naples, also a portrait of herself made with a mirror.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "english": "Anciently there were two types of encaustic painting, with wax and in ivory with a cestrum (that is a small skewer/spit) until fleets started to be painted. This added a third type, using a brush with waxes melted by fire: this method of painting ships is not ruined by sun nor by salt or winds.",
          "ref": "77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 35.149",
          "text": "encausto pingendi duo fuere antiquitus genera cera et in ebore cestro id est vriculo donec classes pingi coepere hoc tertium accessit resolutis igni ceris penicillo utendi quae pictura navibus nec sole nec sale ventisve corrumpitur",
          "translation": "Anciently there were two types of encaustic painting, with wax and in ivory with a cestrum (that is a small skewer/spit) until fleets started to be painted. This added a third type, using a brush with waxes melted by fire: this method of painting ships is not ruined by sun nor by salt or winds.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "some tool used in encaustic painting on ivory"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "encaustic",
          "encaustic#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "declension-2"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈkɛs.trũː]",
      "tags": [
        "Classical-Latin"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "[ˈt͡ʃɛs.trum]",
      "note": "modern Italianate Ecclesiastical"
    }
  ],
  "word": "cestrum"
}

Download raw JSONL data for cestrum meaning in Latin (6.4kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Latin dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-09 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (96027d6 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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