testa

See also: testá and tèsta

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin testa.

Noun

testa (plural testas or testae or testæ)

1. (botany) A seed coat.

   The testa develops from the tissue, the integument, originally surrounding the ovule.

   • 1840, James Scott Bowerbank, A History of the Fossil Fruits and Seeds of the London Clay, page 30,

     The seeds are furnished with a reticulated testa, very much in appearance like that of the seeds of two closely-allied pericarps in the cabinet of my friend Mr. Ward, of Wellclose-square, the names of which I have been unable to obtain, but which present strong evidence of belonging to the Malvaceæ.

   • 1969, C. W. Bennett, Seed Transmission of Plant Viruses, Alison Smith, Advances in Virus Research, Volume 14, page 224,

     In tests with the Lincoln and Virginia varieties of cowpea, Crowley (1959) found that, in plants infected with bean southern mosaic virus before blossoming, the virus was present in nearly 100% of the testae and endosperms of seeds of both varieties, but could not be detected in the embryos.

   • 1977, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australian Journal of Plant Physiology, page 354,

     Thus, two conditions must be satisfied for the testas to have this effect: contact between the testas and the radicle, and the presence of at least half of the testas.

   • 2005, D. W. Dickson, D. De Waele, Nematode Parasites of Peanut, Michel Luc, Richard A. Sikora, John Bridge, Plant Parasitic Nematodes in Subtropical and Tropical Agriculture, page 419,

     A.^{[Aphelenchoides]} arachidis is a parasite of pods, testae, roots and hypocotyls, but not the cotyledons, embryos or other parts of the plant (Bos, 1977a; Bridge et al., 1977).

   • 2007, J. Smartt, Evolution of American Phaseolus beans under domestication, Peter John Ucko, G. W. Dimbleby (editors), The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, page 458,

     One of the most remarkable features of cultivated beans is the enormous range of testa colours and patterns which can be found.

2. (marine biology) The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm; the test.

Anagrams

• State, aetts, atest, state, taste, teats

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tɛs.ta/

Verb

testa

1. third-person singular past historic of tester

Anagrams

• états, tâtes, tétas

---

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛs.ta/, [ˈt̪ɛs̪t̪ä]

• Audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsta
• Stress: tèsta
• Hyphenation: te‧sta

Etymology 1

From Latin testa.

Noun

testa f (plural teste)

1. head
2. (anatomy) head (of a bone)

Synonyms

• (part of the body): capo

Derived terms

Terms derived from testa

• a testa
• fuori di testa
• mal di testa
• montarsi la testa
• scuotere la testa
• testa a testa
• testa calda

• testacoda
• testa di cazzo
• testa di ponte
• testa di rapa
• testa di serie
• testa d'uovo

• testa dura
• testa matta
• testa o croce
• testata
• testiera
• titoli di testa

Etymology 2

See etymology on the main entry.

Verb

testa

1. third-person singular present indicative of testare
2. second-person singular imperative of testare

Anagrams

• setta, state

---

Latin

Etymology

• As if tosta, from torreō (“to burn, parch”).
• Others refer it to Proto-Indo-European *teḱs- (“to plait, woodwork, carpenter”), like Latin texō (“to weave”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈtes.ta/, [ˈtɛs.ta]

Noun

testa f (genitive testae); first declension

1. a piece of burned clay, brick, tile
2. (transf.) a piece of baked earthenware
   1. an earthen pot, pitcher, jug, urn
   2. a sherd, potsherd
   3. a piece of bone
   4. ostracon (= ὄστρακον (óstrakon))
   5. the shell of shellfish or of testaceous animals, shellfish, skull
3. a sort of clapping with the flat of the hands (as if with two tiles), in token of applause, invented by Nero

Inflection

First declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	testa	testae
genitive	testae	testārum
dative	testae	testīs
accusative	testam	testās
ablative	testā	testīs
vocative	testa	testae

Derived terms

• testū/ testum
• testūdō
• testula

Related terms

• testuātium
• testūdineātus
• testūdineus

Descendants

• Asturian: tiesta
• Catalan: testa
• English: test
• Istriot: tiesta
• Italian: testa
• Ligurian: tésta
• Occitan: tèsta, testa (Limousin)
• Old French: teste
  • Middle French: teste
    • French: tête

• Portuguese: testa
• Romanian: țeastă
• Romansch: testa
• Sicilian: testa
• Spanish: tiesta, testa
• Walloon: tiesse
• Venetian: testa

References

• testa in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• testa in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• testa in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• testa in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• testa in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• testa in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• testa in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

---

Latvian

Noun

testa m

1. genitive singular form of tests

---

Norwegian Bokmål

Alternative forms

• testet

Verb

testa

1. simple past of teste
2. past participle of teste

---

Old Occitan

Etymology

From Latin testa.

Noun

testa f (oblique plural testas, nominative singular testa, nominative plural testas)

1. head

---

Portuguese

testa

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛʃ.tɐ/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtɛs.tɐ/
• Hyphenation: tes‧ta

Etymology 1

From Old Portuguese testa, from Latin testa.

Noun

testa f (plural testas)

1. forehead (part of the face above the eyebrows and below the hairline)

Derived terms

• testinha
• testudo

Verb

testa

1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of testar
2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of testar

---

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin testa (“pot”).

Noun

testa f (plural testas)

1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader) head

Usage notes

In Rumantsch Grischun, the literary standard language, testa is used in the figurative sense, and chau in the anatomical sense. Usage differs somewhat, however, between dialects.

Synonyms

• (Rumantsch Grischun) chau
• (Sursilvan) tgau
• (Sutsilvan) tgieu
• (Surmiran) tgea
• (Puter) cho
• (Vallader) cheu

---

Sicilian

Etymology

From Latin testa (“brick”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t̪ʲɛs(ʃ)ta/
• Hyphenation: te‧sta

Noun

testa f (plural testi)

1. (anatomy) head
2. intelligent person
3. intelligence

---

Spanish

Etymology 1

From Latin testa.

Noun

testa f (plural testas)

1. head
2. test (shell or endoskeleton of an echinoderm or certain plankton)

Etymology 2

Inflected form of testar.

Verb

testa

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of testar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of testar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of testar.

Derived terms

• testa coronada
• testa de ferro, testaferro

---

Swedish

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

Verb

testa (present testar, preterite testade, supine testat, imperative testa)

1. try, attempt; to see if a specific action is possible; also to see if a device works properly.

Conjugation

Conjugation of testa (weak)

	Active	Passive
Infinitive	testa	testas
Present tense	testar	testas
Past tense	testade	testades
Supine	testat	testats
Imperative	testa	—
Present participle	testande
Past participle	testad