different between spicula vs spicule

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?kj?l?

Noun

spicula

1. plural of spiculum

Noun

spicula (plural spiculas or spiculae)

1. A little spike; a spikelet or spiculum.
2. A pointed fleshy appendage.

Latin

Noun

sp?cula

1. nominative plural of sp?culum
2. accusative plural of sp?culum
3. vocative plural of sp?culum

References

• spicula in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• spicula in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• spicula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

English

Etymology

From Latin sp?culum.

Noun

spicule (plural spicules)

1. A sharp, needle-like piece.
2. A tiny glass flake formed during the manufacture of glass vials
3. (biology) Any of many needle-like crystalline structures that provide skeletal support in marine invertebrates like sponges.
   • 1860, Recreative Science (page 110)

     Tear it up, and put a fragment under the microscope, and, wonder of wonders! see the maze of geometric forms exhibited in the bones of the creature; for who can help regarding the spicules as bones, even though a sponge be invertebrate?

4. A needle-like mating structure found only in male nematodes.
5. (astronomy) A jet of matter ejected from the photosphere of the sun.
6. A small spike of flowers.

Translations

Anagrams

• Pulices, clipeus