pilus

See also: Piluś

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pilus (“hair”). 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

See also

Anagrams

Dutch

Noun

pilus m (plural pili)

  1. pilus (bacterial appendage)

Estonian

Noun

pilus

  1. inessive singular of pilu

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 no longer accepted.[3][4][5]

Pronunciation

Noun

pilus m (genitive pilī); second declension

  1. (anatomy) A hair.
    Synonym: capillus
  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
Descendants
  • Balkan Romance:
    • Aromanian: per
    • Megleno-Romanian: per
    • Istro-Romanian: per
    • Romanian: păr
  • Dalmatian:
  • Italo-Romance:
  • Insular Romance:
  • North Italian:
  • Gallo-Romance:
  • Occitano-Romance:
  • Ibero-Romance:
  • Borrowings:
    • → English: pile (fine underfur of certain animals)
    • → Ido: pilo

References
  1. Walde, Alois (1927) Julius Pokorny, 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), 3rd edition, volume II, 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), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, 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

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
Derived terms

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.
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