ostium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ōstium.

Noun

ostium (plural ostia)

1. A small opening or orifice, as in a body organ or passage.
2. Any of the small openings or pores in a sponge.
3. The mouth of a river.

Anagrams

• timous

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Latin

Etymology

Cognate with ōs (“mouth”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈoːs.ti.um/, [ˈoːs̠t̪iʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈos.ti.um/, [ˈɔst̪ium]

Noun

ōstium n (genitive ōstiī or ōstī); second declension

1. door
2. entrance
3. estuary

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ōstium	ōstia
Genitive	ōstiī ōstī1	ōstiōrum
Dative	ōstiō	ōstiīs
Accusative	ōstium	ōstia
Ablative	ōstiō	ōstiīs
Vocative	ōstium	ōstia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Synonyms

• (door): iānua

Derived terms

• ōstiātim

Related terms

• ōstiārius
• ōstiolum

Descendants

• Aromanian: ushã, ushi
• → English: ostium
• French: huis
• Italian: uscio
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: luš
  • Romagnol: ós
• → Italian: ostio
• Ladin: usc

• Occitan: ussa
• Romanian: ușă
• Romansch: isch, esch, üsch
• Old Spanish: uço
  • Spanish: uzo
• → Spanish: ostio
• Walloon: ouxh

References

• “ostium”, in Charlton T[homas] Lewis; Charles [Lancaster] Short (1879) […] A New Latin Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Ill.: American Book Company; Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• “ostium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ostium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• ostium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to knock at the door: ostium, fores pulsare
    
  • to open, shut the door: ostium, fores aperire, claudere
    
• “ostium”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ostium”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin