villus

Borrowed from Latin villus.

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪləs/
• Rhymes: -ɪləs

villus (plural villi)

1. (biology) A small projection from a membrane, particularly those found in the mucous membranes of the intestines.
2. (botany) One of the fine soft hairs on fruits, flowers, and other parts of plants.

Dialectal variant of vellus (“fleece”).

villus m (genitive villī); second declension

1. hair, tuft of hair, shaggy hair
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid I.701–702:

     Dant famulī manibus lymphās, Cereremque canistrīs
     expediunt, tōnsīsque ferunt mantēlia villīs.

     The servants give the hands waters, and corn from wicker baskets
     they deal, and bring towels of smooth hair.

Second-declension noun.

• villōsus
• villūtus (Late Latin)

• → English: villus
• Italian: villo, vello
• Spanish: vello

• “villus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “villus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• villus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• villus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.