apio

See also: Apio, ápio, and Ápio

English

Noun

apio (uncountable)

1. Synonym of akpeteshie (“Ghanaian alcoholic drink”).

Anagrams

• Piao, -opia, opia

Esperanto

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈpio/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -io
• Syllabification: a‧pi‧o

Noun

apio (accusative singular apion, plural apioj, accusative plural apiojn)

1. Apium

   Hyponym: celerio

Galician

Alternative forms

• aipo, ampio

Etymology

Attested since 1409. From Latin apium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈapjʊ]

Noun

apio m (plural apios)

1. celery
   • 1409, José Luis Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 125:

     Para esto ual enprasto feito de çumo da alosna et do apeo et de çera et de exulla de porco uello et pouco de vjno branco et ferua todo esto desuun con fariña triga

     For this is good a plaster made of wormwood juice, and of celery, and of wax, and of old pork grease, and some white wine, and let all this boil with wheat flour

References

• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “apeo”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “apio”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “apio”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “apio”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈa.pi.oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈaː.pi.o]

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

apiō

1. dative/ablative singular of apium

Etymology 2

Probably from Proto-Italic *apjō, from Proto-Indo-European *Hp-i-. The following two roots have been proposed:

• Proto-Indo-European *h₁ep- (“grab, snatch, get”). Potential cognates include Hittite ēpp-/app- (“to take, grab”).
• Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (“to attach, join”). Potential cognates include Hittite 𒄩𒀊 (ḫapp-, “to join, attach”), Ancient Greek ἅπτω (háptō, “to fasten”).

Within Latin, other possibly related terms include apīscor, coepiō, cōpula (“bond, tie, connection; band, leash”), apex.

The only form of apiō in common use is the perfect participle aptus, which is used as an adjective with a range of senses, not all of which necessarily share the same etymology. (Rix derives the adjective aptus (“suitable, fitting”) from *h₂ep- but apiō and apīscor from *h₁ep-.) The present (or infectum) stem is attested only a few times, in etymological explanations given in works of Saint Isidore of Seville, Paul the Deacon (summarizing Sextus Pompeius Festus) and Servius, as well as glosses.

The perfect stem is hypothesized to have originally been *ēp-; compare coēpit in Lucretius 4.619.

Verb

apiō (present infinitive apere, supine aptum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, no perfect stem

1. to bind, fasten, join; attach, connect
   • c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 1.15.1:

     […] linguam autem dēbēre aiunt non esse līberam nec vagam, sed vinclīs de pectore īmō ac dē corde aptīs movērī et quasi gubernārī.

     They say that the tongue should not be free and wandering, but that it should be moved and, so to say, steered by cords attached to the deep chest and heart.

   • c. 600 CE – 625 CE, Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae 19.30.5:

     Apex est pilleum sutile quod sacerdotes gentiles utebantur, appellatus ab apiendo, id est adligando.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1839 [8th century CE], Paulus Diaconus, edited by Karl Otfried Müller, Excerpta ex libris Pompeii Festi De significatione verborum, page 17, line 9:

     Apex, quod est sacerdotum īnsigne, dictus est ab eō, quod comprehendere antīquī vinculō apere dīcēbant. Unde aptus est, quī conventienter alicui iūnctus est.

     The apex, which is the ensign of the Flamen, is called so because of the fact that in, the old language, tying with a rope was called apere. Whence aptus is something which is conventiently joined to something.

2. to snag, snare

Conjugation

   Conjugation of apiō (third (-iō variant) conjugation, no perfect stem)

indicative		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	apiō		apis		apit		apimus		apitis		apiunt
	imperfect	apiēbam		apiēbās		apiēbat		apiēbāmus		apiēbātis		apiēbant
	future	apiam		apiēs		apiet		apiēmus		apiētis		apient
passive	present	apior		aperis, apere		apitur		apimur		apiminī		apiuntur
	imperfect	apiēbar		apiēbāris, apiēbāre		apiēbātur		apiēbāmur		apiēbāminī		apiēbantur
	future	apiar		apiēris, apiēre		apiētur		apiēmur		apiēminī		apientur
	perfect	aptus + present active indicative of sum
	pluperfect	aptus + imperfect active indicative of sum
	future perfect	aptus + future active indicative of sum
subjunctive		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	apiam		apiās		apiat		apiāmus		apiātis		apiant
	imperfect	aperem		aperēs		aperet		aperēmus		aperētis		aperent
passive	present	apiar		apiāris, apiāre		apiātur		apiāmur		apiāminī		apiantur
	imperfect	aperer		aperēris, aperēre		aperētur		aperēmur		aperēminī		aperentur
	perfect	aptus + present active subjunctive of sum
	pluperfect	aptus + imperfect active subjunctive of sum
imperative		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	—		ape		—		—		apite		—
	future	—		apitō		apitō		—		apitōte		apiuntō
passive	present	—		apere		—		—		apiminī		—
	future	—		apitor		apitor		—		—		apiuntor
non-finite forms		infinitive						participle
		active			passive			active			passive
present		apere			apī			apiēns			—
future		aptūrum esse			aptum īrī			aptūrus			apiendus, apiundus
perfect		—			aptum esse			—			aptus
future perfect		—			aptum fore			—			—
perfect potential		aptūrum fuisse			—			—			—
verbal nouns		gerund								supine
		genitive		dative		accusative		ablative		accusative		ablative
		apiendī		apiendō		apiendum		apiendō		aptum		aptū

Further reading

• “apio”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• "apio", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “apio”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), volume I, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 120

Old Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Latin apium. First attested in the mid-13th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈapjo/

Noun

apio m

1. celery
   • 1250, Abraham de Toledo, Moamín, libro de los animales que cazan, (as shown in the RAE's diachronic corpus, from an edition by Anthony J. Cárdenas for Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (Madison)):

     E si camiaren por la grand calentura que an, tomen de la semiente del apio tanto quanto entendieren que avrán mester

     And if they [the animals] change due to the great fever, they sould take as many celery seeds as they may need

Descendants

• apio

Spanish

Etymology

According to Coromines and Pascual, from Old Spanish apio, inherited from Latin apium, cognate with Portuguese aipo, Galician aipo, ampio. Another example of Spanish retaining [j] after a labial is rubio (“blond”), compare Portuguese ruivo (“red-haired, redhead”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈapjo/ [ˈa.pjo]

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -apjo
• Syllabification: a‧pio

Noun

apio m (plural apios)

1. celery
2. (slang, Spain) queer, poof

Derived terms

• apio criollo
• apio nabo
• apio sardónico

Descendants

• → Cebuano: apyo
• → Ladino: apyo
• → Tagalog: apyo

Further reading

• Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1984), “apio”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎^[1] (in Spanish), volume I (A–Ca), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 297
• “apio”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025