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Webster 1913 Edition

Echinus

‖

E-chi′nus

,
Noun.
;
pl.
Echini
(#)
.
[L., a hedgehog, sea urchin, Gr.
ἐχῖνος
.]
1.
(Zoöl.)
A hedgehog.
2.
(Zoöl.)
A genus of echinoderms, including the common edible sea urchin of Europe.
3.
(Arch.)
(a)
The rounded molding forming the bell of the capital of the Grecian Doric style, which is of a peculiar elastic curve. See
Entablature
.
(b)
The quarter-round molding (ovolo) of the Roman Doric style. See Illust. of
Column
(c)
A name sometimes given to the egg and anchor or egg and dart molding, because that ornament is often identified with the Roman Doric capital. The name probably alludes to the shape of the shell of the sea urchin.

Webster 1828 Edition

Echinus

ECH'INUS

,
Noun.
[L. from Gr.] A hedgehog.
1.
A shell-fish set with prickles or spines. The Echinus, in natural history, forms a genus of Mollusca. The body is roundish, covered with a bony crust, and often beset with movable prickles. There are several species and some of them eatable.
2.
With botanists, a prickly head or top of a plant; an echinated pericarp.
3.
In architecture, a member or ornament near the bottom of Ionic, Corinthian or Composite capitals, so named from its roughness, resembling, in some measure, the spiny coat of a hedgehog.

Definition 2024

Echinus

Echinus

See also: echinus

Translingual

Echinus esculentus

Wikispecies

Proper noun

Echinus m

  1. A taxonomic genus within the family Echinidae – certain sea urchins.

echinus

echinus

See also: Echinus

English

Noun

echinus ‎(plural echinuses or echini)

  1. (architecture) The rounded moulding forming the bell of the capital of the Grecian Doric style, which is of a peculiar elastic curve.
  2. (architecture) The quarter-round moulding (ovolo) of the Roman Doric style.
  3. (architecture) The egg-and-anchor or egg-and-dart moulding, because often identified with the Roman Doric capital.

Latin

echīnus (1, sea urchin)
echīnus (2, hedgehog)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος ‎(ekhînos).

Pronunciation

Noun

echīnus m ‎(genitive echīnī); second declension

  1. a sea urchin, especially the edible kind
  2. a hedgehog
  3. the prickly husk of a chestnut
  4. a rinsing bowl, especially of copper
  5. (architecture) an ornament under the chapiter of an Ionic or Doric column

Inflection

Second declension.

Case Singular Plural
nominative echīnus echīnī
genitive echīnī echīnōrum
dative echīnō echīnīs
accusative echīnum echīnōs
ablative echīnō echīnīs
vocative echīne echīnī

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

References

Etymology

From Latin echīnus ‎(“sea urchin”), from Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος ‎(ekhînos).

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