pollex

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.

Noun

pollex (plural pollices)

1. The thumb; the first, or preaxial, digit of the forelimb, corresponding to the hallux in the hind limb. In birds, the pollex is the joint which bears the alula or bastard wing.

Derived terms

• pollical

See also

• hallux

References

• pollex in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

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Latin

Etymology

Perhaps cognate with Proto-Slavic *palьcь, but contaminated with Latin polleō (hence pollex not *pōlex).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpol.leks/, [ˈpɔl.lɛks]

Noun

pollex m (genitive pollicis); third declension

1. thumb
2. a unit of distance, equivalent to approximately 24.6 mm; one uncia (see also: Ancient Roman units of measurement)

Inflection

Third declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	pollex	pollicēs
genitive	pollicis	pollicum
dative	pollicī	pollicibus
accusative	pollicem	pollicēs
ablative	pollice	pollicibus
vocative	pollex	pollicēs

Derived terms

• pollicāris

Descendants

• Catalan: polze
• English: pollical
• French: pouce, poucier
• Italian: pollice
• Occitan: poce

• Portuguese: pólex, pólice
• Romansh: polesch, polisch, polsch
• Sicilian: puseri
• Sardinian: pódhiche

References

• pollex in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pollex in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• du Cange, Charles (1883), “pollex”, in G. A. Louis Henschel, Pierre Carpentier, Léopold Favre, editors, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (in Latin), Niort: L. Favre
• pollex in William Smith, editor (1848) A Dictionary of Greek Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray