# cilium
## English
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cilium (“eyelid”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈsɪl.i.əm/
* Rhymes: -ɪliəm

### Noun

cilium (plural cilia)
* (cytology) A short microscopic hairlike organelle projecting from a eukaryotic cell (such as a unicellular organism or one cell of a multicelled organism) which serve either for propulsion by causing currents in the surrounding fluid or as sensors.
    Hyponym: primary cilium
** 1892, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Claus, edited by F. G. Heathcote, Elementary Text-book of Zoology:It is the deeper parts of such cells which give rise to delicate muscular fibres or networks of fibres, while the superficially placed body of the cell myoblast), the part which produces the above, performs other functions, and usually bears a cilium.
** 2006, Manfred Schliwa, Molecular Motors, page 359:The clockwise beating of cilia results in a net flow of extraembryonic fluid leftwards […]
* (entomology) One of the fine hairs along an insect's wing.
* (botany) Hairs or similar protrusions along the margin of an organ.
* (anatomy) An eyelash.

#### Hyponyms

* ciliolum

#### Derived terms

* ciliary
* ciliate
* Ciliate
* cilio-
* kinocilium
* macrocilium
* monociliate
* monocilium
* stereocilium
* uniciliate

#### Related terms

* supercilium

#### Translations
### See also

* flagellum

### References

* “cilium”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “cilium”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *keljom, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel-yo-m, which is derived from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”). Alternatively, compare Ancient Greek κῠ́λᾱ (kŭ́lā, “the parts under the eyes”) (though Beekes doubts this connection and derives the latter from Pre-Greek).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈki.li.um/, [ˈkɪlʲiʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃi.li.um/, [ˈt͡ʃiːlium]

### Noun

cilium n (genitive ciliī or cilī); second declension
* (anatomy) eyelid
    Synonym: palpebra
** (transferred sense) lower eyelid
    Antonym: supercilium
* (Medieval Latin, usually in the plural) eyelash
    Synonym: palpebra

#### Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).
$^1$Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

#### Derived terms

* ciliāris (adjective)
* intercilium
* supercilium

#### Descendants

(Several via the plural cilia.)
* Dalmatian:
** čeja
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: ciglio
** Sicilian: cigghiu, gigghiu
* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: chizu, cillu, chiza
* North Italian:
** Friulian: cee
** Istriot: sia
** Lombard: zida
** >? Piedmontese: sign
** Romagnol: zida
** Romansch: tschegl
** Venetan: segia, zheja, cegia, çéi
* Gallo-Romance:
** Catalan: cella
** Old French: cil, cille
*** French: cil
** Occitan: cilh, celh, cilha, celha
* Ibero-Romance:
** Aragonese: cella
** Asturian: ceya
** Galician: cella
** Portuguese: celha
** Spanish: ceja, cejo
* Borrowings:
** → English: cilium
** → Ido: cilio
** → Portuguese: cílio
** → Romanian: ciliu
** → Spanish: cilio
** → Swedish: cilie

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “cilium”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 114

### Further reading

* “cilium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* cilium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* cilium in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
* Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “cĭlium”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 627