ancilla

American  

[an-sil-uh] / ænˈsɪl ə /

noun

plural

ancillas

1. an accessory; auxiliary or adjunct.

2. Archaic. a maidservant.

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Etymology

Origin of ancilla

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

Example Sentences

So researchers interleave the data qubits with so-called ancillary qubits and establish a quantum link called entanglement between each ancilla and its neighbors.

From Science Magazine • Jul. 14, 2021

If the ancilla is 1, then the measurement reveals only that the coding qubits must be in opposite states.

From Science Magazine • Jul. 9, 2020

For example, if the measurement shows the first ancilla is 0, it reveals only that the first and second coding qubits must be in the same state, but not which state that is.

From Science Magazine • Jul. 9, 2020

The circuit can be executed at the logical level, at which the qubit and the ancilla are encoded.

From Nature • Sep. 12, 2017

Within the Church it sheltered—I will not say disguised—itself under the interpretation of dogma; it became a sort of respectful auxiliary of theology, and was accordingly called the "handmaid of theology," ancilla theologiae.

From Initiation into Philosophy by Faguet, Émile