lamella

[luh-mel-uh]

noun

plural

lamellae, lamellas 

1. a thin plate, scale, membrane, or layer, as of bone, tissue, or cell walls.

2. Botany.

   1. an erect scale or blade inserted at the junction of the claw and limb in some corollas and forming a part of their corona or crown.

   2. (in mosses) a thin sheet of cells standing up along the midrib of a leaf.

3. Mycology.,  gill.

4. Building Trades.,  a member of wood, metal, or reinforced concrete, joined in a crisscross pattern with other lamellae to form a vault.

5. Ophthalmology.,  a small disk of gelatin and glycerin mixed with a medicinal substance, used as a medicament for the eyes.

lamella

/ ˌlæməˈlɒsɪtɪ, -lɪt, -lɪt, ləˈmɛləʊs, ˈlæmɪˌleɪt, ˈlæmɪˌləʊs, ləˈmɛlə, ləˈmɛleɪt /

noun

1. a thin layer, plate, or membrane, esp any of the calcified layers of which bone is formed

2. botany

   1. any of the spore-bearing gills of a mushroom

   2. any of the membranes in a chloroplast

   3. Also called: middle lamella. a layer of pectin cementing together adjacent cells

3. one of a number of timber, metal, or concrete members connected along a pattern of intersecting diagonal lines to form a framed vaulted roof structure

4. any thin sheet of material or thin layer in a fluid

Other Word Forms

• lamellosity noun
• lamellation noun
• lamellar adjective
• lamellated adjective
• lamellarly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of lamella¹

1670–80; < Latin lāmella, diminutive of lāmina lame ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of lamella¹

C17: New Latin, from Latin, diminutive of lāmina thin plate

Example Sentences

But the disk couldn’t suction with individual lamellae, making it vulnerable to falling off.

From Science Magazine

It has no sticky lamellae on its feet for wall climbing, it has blinking eyelids, it tends to be more docile around humans.

From The Verge

Then liquid drains from the thin membranes, known as lamellae, that encase the individual bubbles until one of those lamellae thins too much to support the bubble.

From Scientific American

The disc is supported by a complex series of muscles and bones that create suction by erecting and depressing the lamellae.

From Scientific American

Gills or branchiae may be developed by parts of an appendage becoming thin-walled and vascular and either expanded into a thin lamella or ramified.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• layer 
• slab 
• slice