labium - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

Learned borrowing from Latin labium (“a lip”). Doublet of lip.

labium (plural labia)

  1. (anatomy, usually in the plural) A liplike structure; especially one of the vulva's two pairs of folds of skin on either side.
    Hyponyms: labium majus, labium minus
  2. (botany) The lip of a labiate corolla.
  3. (entomology) A lower mouthpart of an insect that is formed by the second pair of maxillae united in the middle line.
    1. (zoology) A liplike part of various invertebrates.
  4. (music) The lip against which pressured air is driven to produce sound in a recorder and in a pipe organ with flue pipes.

liplike structure

labium m (plural labiums)

  1. (zoology) labium

From Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely”),[1] making it cognate with Proto-Germanic *lepô (“lip”), although (as with many other roots reconstructed with *b) there is some doubt about whether this root goes back to Proto-Indo-European.[2][3] Lab- may be the regular outcome of zero-grade tautosyllabic *l̥b.-.[4] Doublet of labrum.

labium n (genitive labiī or labī); second declension

  1. (anatomy) a lip
    Synonym: labrum
  2. an axle or some other part of an oil press
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Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative labium labia
Genitive labiīlabī1 labiōrum
Dative labiō labiīs
Accusative labium labia
Ablative labiō labiīs
Vocative labium labia

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

  1. ^ Olander, Thomas (2020) “To *b or Not to *b: Proto-Indo-European *b in a Phylogenetic Perspective”, in Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, volume 133
  2. ^ Sihler, Andrew L. (1995) New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 146
  3. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “labium”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 319
  4. ^ Schrijver, Peter C. H. (1991) The reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European laryngeals in Latin (Leiden studies in Indo-European; 2), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, →ISBN, page 483

Borrowed from French labium.

labium n (uncountable)

  1. labium

declension of labium (singular only)

| | singular | | | | --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | n gender | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | | nominative/accusative | (un) labium | labiumul | | genitive/dative | (unui) labium | labiumului | | vocative | labiumule | |