calyx

calyx

English

The calyx of a flower is usually green. Its parts are called sepals.

A human kidney with the major and minor calyces labelled.

Alternative forms

• calix

Etymology

From Latin calyx, from Ancient Greek κάλυξ (kálux, “case of a bud, husk”). Doublet of chalice and kelch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæ.lɪks/, /ˈkeɪ.lɪks/
• Rhymes: -ælɪks

Noun

calyx (plural calyces or calyxes)

1. (botany) The outermost whorl of flower parts, comprising the sepals, which covers and protects the petals as they develop.

   Meronym: sepal

2. (zoology, anatomy) Any of various cup-like structures.
   1. A chamber in the mammalian kidney through which urine passes.
   2. The crown containing the viscera of crinoids and similar echinoderms, entoprocts, and the polyps of some cnidarians.
   3. A funnel-shaped expansion of the vas deferens or oviduct of insects.
   4. A flattened cap of neuropil in the brain of insects.

Derived terms

• calyx eye

Translations

the sepals of a flower

Armenian: ծաղկաբաժակ (hy) (całkabažak) Bulgarian: чашка f (čaška) Catalan: calze (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 花萼 (zh) (huā'è) Czech: kalich (cs) m Dutch: kelk (nl) m Finnish: verhiö (fi) French: calice (fr) m Galician: cáliz m German: Kelch (de) m, Calyx m Greek: Ancient: κάλυξ m (kálux) Icelandic: bikar (is) m Irish: cocán m Italian: calice (it) m Japanese: 萼 (ja) (がく, gaku), 蔕 (ja) (へた, heta) (of a fruit) Kazakh: тостағанша (tostağanşa) Marathi: पुष्पकोश (mr) ? (puṣpakoś) Polish: kielich (pl) m Portuguese: cálice (pt) m Romanian: caliciu (ro) n Russian: ча́шечка (ru) f (čášečka) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ка̏леж m Roman: kȁlež (sh) m Spanish: cáliz (es) m Tagalog: santampok Ukrainian: ча́шечка f (čášečka) Welsh: calycs m, blodamlen f

anatomy: structure in kidney

Catalan: calze (ca) m Finnish: munuaispikari Japanese: 杯 (ja) (はい, hai) Portuguese: cálice (pt) m Romanian: caliciu (ro) n Russian: чашеви́дная по́лость f (čaševídnaja pólostʹ), по́чечная ча́шка f (póčečnaja čáška)

zoology: crown of crinoid

Finnish: lonkerokiehkura

Further reading

• calyx on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• calyx (botany) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• calyx (anatomy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “calyx”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κάλυξ (kálux, “case of a bud, husk”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.lyks/, [ˈkälʲʏks̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈka.liks/, [ˈkäːliks]

Noun

calyx m (genitive calycis); third declension

1. The bud, cup, or calyx of a flower or nut.
2. A plant of two kinds, resembling the arum, perhaps the monk's hood.
3. (by extension) The shell of fruits, pericarp.
4. (by extension) An eggshell.
5. A fitting on a Roman pipe

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	calyx	calycēs
Genitive	calycis	calycum
Dative	calycī	calycibus
Accusative	calycem	calycēs
Ablative	calyce	calycibus
Vocative	calyx	calycēs

Derived terms

• calyculus

Descendants

• → English: calyx
• → French: calice
• → Galician: cáliz
• → Portuguese: cálice
• → Spanish: cáliz

See also

• calix

References

• https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/calyx
• https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/calyx
• “calyx”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• calyx in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette