calotte

English

cardinal wearing a calotte (1)

Etymology

Borrowed from French calotte.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒt

Noun

calotte (plural calottes)

1. A skullcap worn by Roman Catholic priests.

   Synonym: zucchetto

2. (archaic) The vertical central area of the crown of a bird's head.
3. (architecture) A round cavity or depression, in the form of a cup or cap, lathed and plastered; used to diminish the rise or elevation of a moderate chapel, alcove, etc. which would otherwise be too high for other pieces of the apartment.
4. (anatomy) The upper (superior) or lower (inferior) half of the globe of the eye.

Anagrams

• Coletta, cattelo

---

French

Etymology

From Old Occitan calotta, calota, either an extension of French cale (“a kind of bonnet”), or from Arabic كَلُّوتَة (kallūta, “a headdress consisting of a small cap with a giant turban, or only the small cap”). See also French calot and Latin calautica, kinds of caps.

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

calotte f (plural calottes)

1. zucchetto (skullcap worn by Roman Catholic clergy)
2. kippah (Jewish cap)
3. (Belgium) calotte (religious skullcap)
4. (Belgium, university slang) cap worn by students of Belgian Catholic universities after the corona ceremony (a sort of hazing)

   Antonym: penne

5. (by extension) cap (of ice)

Derived terms

• calotté
• calotte glaciaire
• calottin
• décalotter

Descendants

• → English: calotte
• → German: Kalotte
• → Italian: calotta
• → Portuguese: calota
• → Spanish: galota, galocha

Further reading

• “calotte”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

---

Italian

Noun

calotte f

1. plural of calotta

Anagrams

• caletto, calettò, coletta