caltrop

English

Etymology

From the Latin calcitrapa (“thistle”).

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: kăl'trəp, IPA: /ˈkæltrəp/, X-SAMPA: /"k{ltr@p/
• Rhymes: -æltrəp
• (UK) enPR: kôl'trəp, IPA: /ˈkɔːltrəp/, X-SAMPA: /"kO:ltr@p/
• Rhymes: -ɔːltrəp

Caltrop used in the Vietnam war

Noun

caltrop (plural caltrops)

1. (weaponry) A small, metal object with spikes arranged so that, when thrown onto the ground, one always faces up as a threat to passers-by.
   • 1858, The journal of the British Archaeological Association

     ...her father, the emperor Alexius, who reigned AD 1081-1118, ordered caltrops to be cast in front of his archers...

   • 1954, Joseph Needham, Ling Wang, Science and civilisation in China

     By Sung times, several different types of caltrops had been developed. As in earlier times, both caltrops could be made from both wood and iron...

   • 2000, Alan Vick, Aerospace operations in urban environments: exploring new concepts

     Caltrops, tetrahedrons, and similar devices are designed to puncture vehicle tires or limit foot traffic. The standard design has four points.

2. (colloquial) The starthistle, Centaurea calcitrapa, a plant with sharp thorns.
3. A flowering plant, Tribulus terrestris, in the family Zygophyllaceae, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World.

Synonyms

• (weaponry): caltrap, galtrop, cheval trap, galthrap, galtrap, calthrop, crow’s foot
• (starthistle):
• (Tribulus terrestris): puncturevine, cathead, yellow vine, goathead, burra, gokharu, bindii.

Translations

weaponry

• Dutch: voetangel (nl) m, kraaienpoot (nl) m
• Finnish: jalkapiikki (fi), kavioansa (fi)
• French: chausse-trape (fr), pied de corbeau (fr)
• German: Krähenfuß (de) m
• Italian: tribolo (it) m, piede di corvo (it) m

• Japanese: 鉄菱 (ja) (てつびし, tetsubishi)
• Korean: 마름쇠 (ko) (mareumsoe)
• Latin: murex (la) m
• Serbo-Croatian: vranina noga (sh) f
• Spanish: abrojo (es)

starthistle

• Bulgarian: бабини зъби (bg) (babini zǎbi)
• Dutch: kalketrip (nl) c
• Finnish: piikkikaunokki (fi)

• French: centaurée chausse-trape (fr), chardon étoilé (fr)
• Spanish: trapacaballos encarnado (es), encojaperros (es), garbanzo del cura (es)

Tribulus terrestris

• Finnish: okarennokki (fi)
• French: tribule terrestre (fr)
• Italian: tribulo comune (it)

• Navajo: shash nátʼoh
• Spanish: abrojo terrestre (es), cadillo (es), cuerno de chivo (es), tribulo (es), cruz maltesa (es)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Latin: murex (la) m
• Portuguese: abrolho (pt)

See also

• Caltrop on Wikipedia.Wikipedia