ancilla

[ an-sil-uh ]
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noun,plural an·cil·las.
  1. an accessory; auxiliary or adjunct.

  2. Archaic. a maidservant.

Origin of ancilla

1
First recorded in 1870–75; from Latin: literally, “handmaid,” diminutive of ancula “maid,” from unrecorded anquola, equivalent to an-, a variant of ambi- “around” + -quola, noun derivative of the root kwel-, kwol- “turn about,” hence “one who circles around”; cognate with Greek amphípolos “attendant”; see origin at ambi-, amphi-, ancile

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