echinus

[ ih-kahy-nuh s ]

/ ɪˈkaɪ nəs /

noun, plural e·chi·ni [ih-kahy-nahy] /ɪˈkaɪ naɪ/.

any sea urchin of the genus Echinus.

Architecture.

an ovolo molding, especially one having an outline with several radii or one carved with an egg-and-dart pattern.
the prominent circular molding supporting the abacus of a Doric or Tuscan capital.
Also called cymatium. the circular molding, usually carved with an egg-and-dart pattern, forming part of an Ionic capital between the volutes and under the balteus.

Nearby words

Origin of echinus

1325–75; Middle English < Latin < Greek echînos hedgehog, sea urchin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for echinus

Yet the echinus can have, at the best, none but the most distant genetic relationship with the Polyzoa.
On the Genesis of Species|St. George Mivart
Nerve-cells lying among the muscular fibres at the base of a spine in Echinus.
Jellyfish, Starfish, and Sea-Urchins: Being a Research on Primitive Nervous Systems|G. J. Romanes
Others have acquired hard or armed shells, as the tortoise and the Echinus marinus.
Evolution, Old & New|Samuel Butler
Echinus (e-kīnus), in architecture, the ovolo or quarter-round convex moulding, seen in capitals of the Doric order.
The New Gresham Encyclopedia|Various

A favourite subject for such inquiries is the sea urchin (Echinus of different kinds).
More Science From an Easy Chair|Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester

British Dictionary definitions for echinus

echinus

/ (ɪˈkaɪnəs) /

noun plural -ni (-naɪ)

architect an ovolo moulding between the shaft and the abacus of a Doric column

any of the sea urchins of the genus Echinus, such as E. esculentus (edible sea urchin) of the Mediterranean

Word Origin for echinus

C14: from Latin, from Greek ekhinos

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012