pilus

pilus

See also: Piluś

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pilus (“hair”). Possible doublet of pile.

Noun

pilus (plural pili)

1. A hair.
2. (microbiology) A hairlike appendage found on the cell surface of many bacteria.
3. (biochemistry) A bacterial protein that has several biochemical functions

Synonyms

• (hairlike appendage): fimbria

See also

• flagellum
• pilus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Pulis, pulis, pusil

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Dutch

Noun

pilus m (plural pili)

1. pilus (bacterial appendage)

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Estonian

Noun

pilus

1. inessive singular of pilu

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Latin

Etymology 1

Uncertain. Older sources reconstruct Proto-Indo-European *pilo- (“hair”), with Latin pilleus (“felt cap”), Ancient Greek πῖλος (pîlos, “wool or hair wrought into felt”), Proto-Slavic *pьlstь (“felt”) as cognates,[1][2] but this is not accepted anymore[3][4][5].

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.lus/, [ˈpɪɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.lus/, [ˈpiːlus]

Noun

pilus m (genitive pilī); second declension

1. (anatomy) A hair.
2. (figuratively) An insignificant amount; iota; least amount

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pilus	pilī
Genitive	pilī	pilōrum
Dative	pilō	pilīs
Accusative	pilum	pilōs
Ablative	pilō	pilīs
Vocative	pile	pilī

Derived terms

• pila
• pilleus
• pilō
• pilōsus
• dēpilātus

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: per
  • Megleno-Romanian: per
  • Istro-Romanian: per
  • Romanian: păr
• Dalmatian:
  • pail
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: pelo
  • Neapolitan: pelo
  • Sicilian: pilu
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: pilu, piu
• North Italian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: pèil, päil, pel
    • Ligurian: pèi
    • Lombard: pel, pil
    • Piedmontese: pèil, pèi
    • Romagnol: pél, päil
  • Friulian: pêl
  • Romansch: pail, peil, pel
  • Venetian: péło
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: peil, poil
    • French: poil ⇒ pelage
      • → English: pelage
    • Norman: pé
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Catalan: pèl
  • Occitan: pel
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: pelu, pelo
  • Old Portuguese: pelo (/l/ likely kept by analogy with cabelo)
    • Galician: pelo
    • Portuguese: pelo
  • Spanish: pelo
• Borrowings:
  • → English: pile (fine underfur of certain animals)
  • → Ido: pilo

References

1. Walde, Alois (1927), Pokorny, Julius, editor, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen (in German), volume II, Berlin: de Gruyter, page 71
2. Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 830
3. Walde, Alois; Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1954), “pilus”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume II, 3rd edition, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, pages 304–305
4. Ernout, Alfred; Meillet, Antoine (1985), “pilus”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots (in French), with additions and corrections of Jacques André, 4th edition, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001, page 507b
5. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 465

Etymology 2

From pīlum (“javelin”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpiː.lus/, [ˈpiːɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.lus/, [ˈpiːlus]

Noun

pīlus m (genitive pīlī); second declension

1. A maniple of the triāriī; a reserve company of veteran soldiers.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pīlus	pīlī
Genitive	pīlī	pīlōrum
Dative	pīlō	pīlīs
Accusative	pīlum	pīlōs
Ablative	pīlō	pīlīs
Vocative	pīle	pīlī

Synonyms

• pīlum

Derived terms

• prīmus pīlus

Further reading

• “pilus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pilus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• pilus 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)
• pilus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette