villus

English

Abnormal blood cells with villi on the surface

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin villus

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɪləs

Noun

villus (plural villi)

1. (biology) A small projection from a membrane, particularly those found in the mucous membranes of the intestines.
2. (botany) One of the fine soft hairs on fruits, flowers, and other parts of plants.

Related terms

• villous
• microvillus

Translations

small projection from a membrane

• Finnish: nukkalisäke
• Hebrew: סִיס‎ (he) m (sis)
• Hungarian: boholy (hu), bélboholy, bélbolyh (hu), bolyh (hu)
• Irish: villeas m
• Korean: 융모 (yungmo)

• Malay: vilus, purasap
• Maori: tīngoingoi
• Portuguese: vilo m
• Slovak: klk m
• Swedish: villus (sv)

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Latin

Etymology

Dialectal variant of vellus (“fleece”).

Noun

villus m (genitive villī); second declension

1. hair, tuft of hair, shaggy hair
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid I.701–702:

     Dant famuli manibus lymphas, Cereremque canistris
     expediunt, tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis.

     The servants give the hands waters, and deal corn from wicker baskets, and bring towels of smooth hair.

Inflection

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	villus	villī
Genitive	villī	villōrum
Dative	villō	villīs
Accusative	villum	villōs
Ablative	villō	villīs
Vocative	ville	villī

Derived terms

• villōsus
• villūtus (Late Latin)

Descendants

• → English: villus
• Italian: villo, vello
• Spanish: vello

References

• villus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• villus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• villus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• villus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette