# theca
## English
### Etymology

From New Latin, from Latin thēca, from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē, “a case, box, receptacle”), from τίθημι (títhēmi, “put, set, place”). Doublet of tay.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈθiːkə/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)

### Noun

theca (plural thecas or thecae)
* (biology) Any of several external cases or sheaths.
** (biology, botany) The pollen-producing organ usually found in pairs and forming an anther.
** (biology, medicine) The theca folliculi: the twin layers of cells surrounding the basal lamina of an ovarian follicle.
** (biology, medicine) The thecal sac: the portion of the dura mater that surrounds the spinal cord and the cauda equina.
** (biology, microbiology, planktology) The membrane complex enveloping the cells of certain plankton including diatoms and dinoflagellates.
** (biology, marine biology) The calcareous wall of a corallite, the exoskeleton of a coral polyp.
** (biology, microbiology, mycology) A sporangium: a spore case.
* (Christianity) A case for the corporal cloth used in the Eucharist.

#### Derived terms

* epitheca
* extrathecal
* gnathotheca
* hypotheca
* intrathecal
* ootheca
* spermatheca
* theca cordis
* theca externa
* theca folliculi
* theca interna
* thecal
* thecate
* thecoma

#### Related terms

* intrathecally
* thecium

### Further reading

* “theca”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* “theca”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
* “theca”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

### Anagrams

* 'tache, Tache, Taché, Teach, Tâche, chate, cheat, he-cat, tache, teach

## Kikuyu
### Alternative forms

* theeca

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ðɛːɕa/

### Verb

theca (infinitive gũtheca)
* to pierce, to stab

#### Related terms

(Nouns)
* mũthece class 3

### References

* ↑ Armstrong, Lilias E. (1940). The Phonetic and Tonal Structure of Kikuyu, p. 360. Rep. 1967. (Also in 2018 by Routledge).

## Latin
### Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek θήκη (thḗkē, “a case, box, receptacle”), from τίθημι (títhēmi, “put, set, place”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈtʰeː.ka/, [ˈt̪ʰeːkä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈte.ka/, [ˈt̪ɛːkä]

### Noun

thēca f (genitive thēcae); first declension
* a case, envelope, sheath

#### Declension

First-declension noun.

#### Descendants

* Balkan Romance:
** Aromanian: teacã
** Megleno-Romanian: teacă
** Romanian: teacă
* North Italian:
** Ligurian: téiga
** Piedmontese: teja
** Romansch: taja
** Venetan: tega
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: tega
** Neapolitan: teche (Abruzzese)
* Gallo-Romance:
** Old French: teie, toie
*** Bourguignon: taye, toie, toûe
*** Champenois: toïe, toye, touye
*** Middle French: taye, taie, toie, toye
**** French: taie
**** → Middle English: tay
*** Lorrain: taye, tâye, tôe
*** Walloon: toye
* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian:
    Campidanese: tega
    Logudorese: tega
    Nuorese: teca
* Borrowings:
** → English: theca
** → Middle Dutch: teke
*** Dutch: teek (archaic)
*** → German: Theke
** → Old Irish: tíag
*** Irish: tiach
** → French: thèque, -thèque
** → Hungarian: téka, -téka
** → Italian: teca
** → Polish: -teka
** → Old Occitan: teca
*** Occitan: teca
** → Spanish: teca, tecla
** → Walloon: tîke
** → Old Welsh: tuic
** → Proto-West Germanic: *tēkā (see there for further descendants)

### See also

* bibliothēca
* hypothēca

### References

* “theca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “theca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* theca 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)
* theca in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* “theca”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.