ancillary

English

WOTD – 31 December 2009    

Etymology

From Latin ancillāris, from ancilla (“maid”), diminutive of ancula, feminine of anculus (“a male servant”), from *ancus (“a servant”), from ambi- (“about”) + Proto-Indo-European *kwol-o-, from base *kwel- (“move round, turn about, be much about”).

See ambi- for cognate terms of prefix, such as ambulate; cycle is cognate from the Proto-Indo-European root.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

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Adjective

ancillary (comparative more ancillary, superlative most ancillary)

1. Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary; accessory.
   • 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, Chapter 3:

     […] how easily he took all things along with him,—the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man.

   • 1898, John Wesley Powell, Truth and Error, Chapter 7

     [E]very organ of the body, whatever function it may perform, must also perform the other four functions in an ancillary manner.

Translations

subordinate, secondary, auxiliary, accessory

• Bulgarian: помощен (bg) (pomošten), спомагателен (bg) (spomagatelen)
• Danish: sekundær (da), underordnet (da)
• Dutch: ondergschikt (nl), ondersteunend (nl), ondersteunend (nl)
• Dutch: ondergeschikt (nl)
• Finnish: avustava (fi), apu- (fi); tukeva (fi), tuki- (fi); toissijainen (fi)
• French: subordonné (fr) m, secondaire (fr) m and f, auxiliaire (fr) m and f, ancillaire (fr)
• German: hilfs- (de), neben- (de), zusatz- (de)

• Italian: subordinato (it) m, secondario (it) m, ausiliare (it)
• Portuguese: subordinado (pt) m, secundário (pt) m, auxiliar (pt)
• Russian: вспомогательный (ru) (vspomogatelʹnyj), подсобный (ru) (podsobnyj), дополнительный (ru) (dopolnitelʹnyj), подчинённый (ru) (podčinjónnyj)
• Spanish: secundario (es), auxiliar (es)
• Turkish: yardımcı (tr), tali (tr)
• Urdu: مُعاوِن (ur) (muawan)

Noun

ancillary (plural ancillaries)

1. Something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.
2. (archaic) An auxiliary; a subordinate.

Translations

thing

• Finnish: apuväline (fi)
• French: accessoire (fr) m
• Polish: pomocniczy (pl)

• Russian: вспомогательная (ru) (vspomogatelʹnaja) деталь (ru) (detalʹ) f
• Spanish: auxiliar (es) m and f, accesorio (es) m, apoyo (es) m,

person

• Finnish: apulainen (fi); alainen (fi)
• French: domestique (fr), serviteur (fr), boy (fr), aide à la personne (fr), employé de maison (fr)
• Italian: domestico (it), servo (it)

• Polish: pomocnik (pl)
• Russian: подчинённый (ru) (podčinjónnyj)
• Spanish: auxiliar (es) m and f, ayudante (es) m and f, subordinado (es) m, subordinada (es) f, criado (es)

References

• ancillary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ancillary in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• ancillary at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• cranially