osculum

English

Etymology

From Latin ōsculum (little mouth).

Noun

osculum (plural oscula)

  1. (chiefly zoology) A small opening or orifice. [from 18th c.]
  2. (zoology, obsolete) One of the suckers on the head of a tapeworm.
  3. (zoology) The main opening in a sponge from which water is expelled.
    • 2012, Caspar Henderson, The Book of Barely Imagined Beings, 2013 edition, Granta Books, page 29:
      Waste water was expelled through a single osculum at about 8.5 cm per second – more than eight thousand times as fast as it circulated in the chambers and 85 times as fast as it entered the sponge in the first place.

Translations

Anagrams


Latin

Etymology

From ōs (mouth) + -culum, neuter form of -culus (suffix forming a diminutive).

Pronunciation

  • (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈoːs.ku.lum/, [ˈoːs.kʊ.ɫũː]

Noun

ōsculum n (genitive ōsculī); second declension

  1. a kiss syn.
  2. a little mouth

Declension

Second declension.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative ōsculum ōscula
Genitive ōsculī ōsculōrum
Dative ōsculō ōsculīs
Accusative ōsculum ōscula
Ablative ōsculō ōsculīs
Vocative ōsculum ōscula

Synonyms

Descendants

See also

References

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