different between spicule vs spiculum

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

English

Etymology

From Latin sp?culum (“a little sharp point”), from sp?cum, alternative form of sp?ca (“point, spike”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp?kj?l?m/

Noun

spiculum (plural spicula)

1. A thrusting javelin used by Romans that replaced the pilum in the late 3rd century.
2. A sharp, pointed crystal, especially of ice.
3. (zoology) A sharp, needle-like structure, especially those making up the skeleton of a sponge.
4. (astronomy) A small radial emission of gas seen in the chromosphere and corona of the sun.

Synonyms

• (sharp, pointed crystal): spicula
• (sharp, needle-like strucutre): spicule
• (small radial emission of gas): spicule

Latin

Etymology

Diminutive of sp?cum, alternative form of sp?ca (“point, spike”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?spi?.ku.lum/, [?s?pi?k??????]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?spi.ku.lum/, [?spi?kulum]

Noun

sp?culum n (genitive sp?cul?); second declension

1. little sharp point or sting
2. dart, arrow

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Descendants

• Catalan: espígol
• Italian: spicchio, ? spigolo
• Portuguese: espicho, ? espículo
• Spanish: espliego

References

• spiculum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• spiculum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• spiculum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• spiculum in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin