English

Noun

vitellus ‎(countable and uncountable, plural vitelli or vitelluses)

1. (biology) The contents or substance of the ovum; egg yolk.
   • 1861, F. Rymer Jones, The General Structure of the Animal Kingdom (page 48)

     In the sarcodo there takes place a process which may be in some measure compared with what occurs in the vitellus after the fecundation of an ovum. The granules becoming united together form groups, which soon divide and subdivide […]

2. (botany) Perisperm in an early condition.

Related terms

• vitellophage

Latin

Etymology

Diminutive of vitulus ‎(“a bull calf”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /wiˈtel.lus/, [wɪˈtɛl.lʊs]

Noun

vitellus m ‎(genitive vitellī); second declension

1. a small calf
2. the yolk of an egg

Inflection

Second declension.

Synonyms

• (yolk of an egg): vitellum

Related terms

• vitulus

Descendants

References

• vitellus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• vitellus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “vitellus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.