villus

Borrowed from Latin villus

• 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.

• villous
• microvillus

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 famuli manibus lymphas, Cereremque canistris
     expediunt, tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis.

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

Second declension.

• 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, 1883–1887)
• villus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette