pilus

English

Etymology

From the Latin hair

Noun

pilus (plural pili)

1. A hair.
2. (microbiology) A hairlike appendage found on the cell surface of many bacteria.

Synonyms

• (hairlike appendage): fimbria

See also

• flagellum
• Pilus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• pulis

---

Latin

Etymology 1

From the Proto-Indo-European *pil- (“one string of hair”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpɪ.lʊs/

Noun

pilus (genitive pilī); m, second declension

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

Inflection

Number	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

Aromanian: per Catalan: pèl Dalmatian: pail French: poil Friulian: pêl Galician: pelo Italian: pelo

Occitan: peu, pel Portuguese: pelo Romanian: păr Romansch: pail, peil, pel Sardinian: pilu, piu Spanish: pelo Venetian: péło

Etymology 2

From pīlum (“javelin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpiːlʊs/

Noun

pīlus (genitive pīlī); m, second declension

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

Inflection

Number	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