spadix

Via Latin spādīx from Ancient Greek σπᾱ́δῑξ (spā́dīx, “palm branch”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈspeɪdɪks/

spadix (plural spadixes or spadices)

1. (botany) A fleshy spike (inflorescence) with reduced flowers, usually enclosed by a spathe, characteristic of aroids.
2. (zoology) A male sexual organ of certain cephalopods and hydrozoans (especially the nautilus), used to transfer sperm.
   • 2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 57:

     However, the shells of modern nautiluses show the opposite pattern—males are somewhat larger than females, with a wider aperture to accommodate the spadix.

• spadiceous

• Araceae
• spathe

Borrowed from Ancient Greek σπᾱ́δῑξ (spā́dīx).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈspaː.diːks/

spādīx (genitive spādīcis); third-declension one-termination adjective

1. chestnut
2. strong brown

Third-declension one-termination adjective.

• spadix in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• spadix in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• spadix in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette