cilium

See also: Cilium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cilium (“eyelid”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪl.i.əm/
• Rhymes: -ɪliəm

Noun

cilium (plural cilia)

1. (cytology) A short microscopic hairlike organelle projecting from a eukaryotic cell (such as a unicellular organism or one cell of a multicelled organism) which serve either for propulsion by causing currents in the surrounding fluid or as sensors.

   Hyponym: primary cilium

   • 1892, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Claus, edited by F. G. Heathcote, Elementary Text-book of Zoology:

     It is the deeper parts of such cells which give rise to delicate muscular fibres or networks of fibres, while the superficially placed body of the cell myoblast), the part which produces the above, performs other functions, and usually bears a cilium.

   • 2006, Manfred Schliwa, Molecular Motors, page 359:

     The clockwise beating of cilia results in a net flow of extraembryonic fluid leftwards […]

2. (entomology) One of the fine hairs along an insect's wing.
3. (botany) Hairs or similar protrusions along the margin of an organ.
4. (anatomy) An eyelash.

Hyponyms

• ciliolum

Derived terms

• macrocilium

 

eyelashes (cilia)

Derived terms

• ciliary
• cilio-
• kinocilium
• monociliate
• monocilium
• stereocilium
• uniciliate

 

Related terms

• supercilium

Translations

hairlike organelle projecting from eukaryotic cell

• Bulgarian: ресна (bg) f (resna)
• Chinese: 纖毛 / 纤毛 (zh) (xiānmáo), 纤毛 (zh) (xiānmáo)
• Czech: řasinka (cs) f, brva (cs) f
• Finnish: värekarva (fi)
• Greek: βλεφαρίδα (el) f (vlefarída)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: برژۆڵە (birjolle)

  Northern Kurdish: kûlk (ku)

• Maori: hururiki
• Nepali: पक्ष्म (pakṣma)
• Polish: rzęska f
• Portuguese: cílio (pt) m
• Russian: ресни́чка (ru) f (resníčka)
• Spanish: cilio (es) m
• Swedish: cilie (sv) c

hair along the margin of an organ

• Bulgarian: ресница f (resnica)
• Finnish: ripsi (fi)

eyelash — see eyelash

See also

• flagellum

References

• “cilium”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cilium”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *keljom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-yo-m, which is derived from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”). Alternatively, compare Ancient Greek κῠ́λᾱ (kúlā, “the parts under the eyes”) (though Beekes doubts this connection and derives the latter from Pre-Greek).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈki.li.um/, [ˈkɪlʲiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃi.li.um/, [ˈt͡ʃiːlium]

Noun

cilium n (genitive ciliī or cilī); second declension

1. (anatomy) eyelid

   Synonym: palpebra

   1. (transferred sense) lower eyelid

      Antonym: supercilium

2. (Medieval Latin, usually in the plural) eyelash

   Synonym: palpebra

Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	cilium	cilia
genitive	ciliī cilī1	ciliōrum
dative	ciliō	ciliīs
accusative	cilium	cilia
ablative	ciliō	ciliīs
vocative	cilium	cilia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• ciliāris (adjective)
• intercilium
• supercilium

Descendants

(Several via the plural cilia.)

• Dalmatian:
  • čeja
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: ciglio
  • Sicilian: cigghiu, gigghiu
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: chizu, cillu, chiza
• North Italian:
  • Friulian: cee
  • Istriot: sia
  • Lombard: zida
  • >? Piedmontese: sign
  • Romagnol: zida
  • Romansch: tschegl
  • Venetan: segia, zheja, cegia, çéi
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: cella
  • Old French: cil, cille
    • French: cil
  • Occitan: cilh, celh, cilha, celha
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: cella
  • Asturian: ceya
  • Galician: cella
  • Portuguese: celha
  • Spanish: ceja, cejo
• Borrowings:
  • → English: cilium
  • → Ido: cilio
  • → Portuguese: cílio
  • → Romanian: ciliu
  • → Spanish: cilio
  • → Swedish: cilie

Further reading

• “cilium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cilium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• cilium in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cĭlium”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 627