pilula
See also: pílula
Latin
Etymology
Diminutive from pila (“ball, globe”) + -ula, said to be ultimately related to pilus (“hair”), since the balls used in Ancient Roman games were filled with hair.[1][2]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpi.lu.la/, [ˈpɪɫ̪ʊɫ̪ä]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈpi.lu.la/, [ˈpiːlulä]
Noun
pilula f (genitive pilulae); first declension
- A small ball, globule; pellet.
- (medicine) A pill.
Declension
First-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | pilula | pilulae |
| Genitive | pilulae | pilulārum |
| Dative | pilulae | pilulīs |
| Accusative | pilulam | pilulās |
| Ablative | pilulā | pilulīs |
| Vocative | pilula | pilulae |
Synonyms
- (small ball, globule): globulus
Related terms
- pilāris
- pilārius
- pilīcrepus
Descendants
- Catalan: píndola
- French: pilule
- → Romanian: pilulă
- → Russian: пилюля (piljulja)
- Italian: pillola
- → Middle Low German: pille
- → Danish: pille
- → Norwegian Bokmål: pille
- Old Portuguese:
- Galician: pílula
- Portuguese: pílula
- Spanish: píldora
References
- “pilula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- pilula in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- pilula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- “pill”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
- Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “pill”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.