unguis

English

Etymology

Latin unguis (“nail, claw, hoof”).

Noun

unguis (plural ungues or unguises)

1. (zoology) The nail, claw, talon, or hoof of a finger, toe, or other appendage.
2. One of the terminal hooks on the foot of an insect.
3. (botany) The slender base of a petal in some flowers; a claw; an ungula.
4. (historical) An old measure equal to the length of the nail of the little finger.

Derived terms

• subunguis

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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “unguis”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

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Latin

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From Proto-Italic *ungus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃negʰ-. Cognates include Ancient Greek ὄνυξ (ónux), Old Irish inga, Sanskrit नख (nakhá, “claw, nail”), Old Armenian եղունգն (ełungn), Old Church Slavonic ногъть (nogŭtĭ), Lithuanian nagas, Persian ناخن (nâxon), Albanian nyell, and Old English næġl (English nail).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈun.ɡʷis/, [ˈʊŋɡʷɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈun.ɡwis/, [ˈuŋɡwis]

Noun

unguis m (genitive unguis); third declension

1. (anatomy) fingernail, toenail
2. claw
3. hoof

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem, ablative singular in -e or occasionally -ī).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	unguis	unguēs
Genitive	unguis	unguium
Dative	unguī	unguibus
Accusative	unguem	unguēs unguīs
Ablative	ungue unguī	unguibus
Vocative	unguis	unguēs

Derived terms

• ad unguem
• in unguem
• unguicula
• ungula

References

• “unguis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “unguis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• unguis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.