operculum
English
![](Images/wiktionary/Kiemendeckelknochen.jpg.webp)
Illustration of a fish's opercular series, with the operculum (yellow), preoperculum (red), interoperculum (green) and suboperculum (pink).
![](Images/wiktionary/Rapana_Black_Sea_2008_G1.jpg.webp)
Sea snail with its operculum covering the aperture.
![](Images/wiktionary/Operculum.png.webp)
The operculum of the brain.
![](Images/wiktionary/Eucalyptus_erythrocorys_operculum.jpg.webp)
Flower buds of Eucalyptus erythrocorys, with and without opercula.
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin operculum.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /əʊˈpɜː.kjʊ.ləm/
- (US) IPA(key): /oʊˈpɝ.kjə.ləm/
Noun
operculum (plural opercula)
- (zoology) A covering flap in animals, such as a gill cover.
- 2017, Susannah Lydon, The Guardian, 18 January:
- Hyoliths […] have a small, conical calcium carbonate shell, with a lid called an operculum.
- 2017, Susannah Lydon, The Guardian, 18 January:
- (botany) The lidlike portion of a moss sporangium or of a fruit that detaches to allow the dispersal of spores or seeds.
- (dentistry) A gum flap covering (part of) a partially erupted tooth, usually a wisdom tooth.
- A structure which serves as a cover or lid.
- 1900 December – 1901 August, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter IX, in The First Men in the Moon, London: George Newnes, […], published 1901, OCLC 843386372, page 95:
- I lifted the circular operculum from its place and laid it carefully on the bale.
-
- (anatomy) One of several flaps of cerebral cortex covering the insula. (clarification of this definition is needed)
Derived terms
- operculitis
- preoperculum
- interoperculum
- suboperculum
Related terms
- opercle
Translations
(zoology) covering flap in animals
|
(botany) lidlike portion on a sporangium or fruit that detaches
structure which serves as a cover or lid
Latin
Etymology
From operiō (“I close”) + -culum.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /oˈper.ku.lum/, [ɔˈpɛrkʊɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /oˈper.ku.lum/, [oˈpɛrkulum]
Noun
operculum n (genitive operculī); second declension
- cover, covering
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | operculum | opercula |
Genitive | operculī | operculōrum |
Dative | operculō | operculīs |
Accusative | operculum | opercula |
Ablative | operculō | operculīs |
Vocative | operculum | opercula |
Descendants
- → English: opercle, operculum
- → French: opercule
- → Italian: opercolo
- → Portuguese: opérculo
- → Spanish: opérculo
References
- “operculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “operculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- operculum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- “operculum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers