operculum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin operculum.

Noun

operculum (plural opercula)

1. (zoology) A covering flap in animals, such as a gill cover.
   • 2017, Susannah Lydon, The Guardian, 18 January:

     Hyoliths […] have a small, conical calcium carbonate shell, with a lid called an operculum.

2. (botany) The lidlike portion of a moss sporangium or of a fruit that detaches to allow the dispersal of spores or seeds.
3. A structure which serves as a cover or lid.
   • 1901, H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, chapter IX, page 95

     I lifted the circular operculum from its place and laid it carefully on the bale.

Related terms

• opercle

Derived terms

• preoperculum
• interoperculum
• suboperculum

Translations

(zoology) covering flap in animals

• Catalan: opercle (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 厴／厣 (zh) (yǎn), 厣 (zh) (yǎn)

• Czech: skřele, žaberní víčko
• Finnish: kiduskansi (fi) (in fish)
• French: opercule (fr) m
• Irish: lannach m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Manx: bleayst f
• Maori: kōrama (in shellfish), kata (of shellfish)
• Portuguese: opérculo (pt) m
• Russian: оболо́чка (ru) f (obolóčka), покры́шка (ru) f (pokrýška), жа́берная кры́шка f (žábernaja krýška) (gill cover)
• Spanish: opérculo (es) m
• Tagalog: unya

(botany) lidlike portion on a sporangium or fruit that detaches

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

structure which serves as a cover or lid

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

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Latin

Etymology

From operiō (“I close”) +‎ -culum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /oˈper.ku.lum/, [ɔˈpɛrkʊɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /oˈper.ku.lum/, [oˈpɛrkulum]

Noun

operculum n (genitive operculī); second declension

1. cover, covering

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	operculum	opercula
Genitive	operculī	operculōrum
Dative	operculō	operculīs
Accusative	operculum	opercula
Ablative	operculō	operculīs
Vocative	operculum	opercula

Descendants

• English: opercle, operculum
• French: opercule
• Italian: opercolo
• Portuguese: opérculo
• Spanish: opérculo

References

• “operculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “operculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• operculum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “operculum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers