taenia

American  

[tee-nee-uh] / ˈti ni ə /

Or tenia

noun

plural

taeniae

1. Classical Antiquity. a headband or fillet.

2. Architecture. (on a Doric entablature) a fillet or band separating the frieze from the architrave.

3. Anatomy. a ribbonlike structure, as certain bands of white nerve fibers in the brain.

4. any tapeworm of the genus Taenia, parasitic in humans and other mammals.

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taenia British  

/ ˈtiːnɪə /

noun

1. (in ancient Greece) a narrow fillet or headband for the hair

2. architect the fillet between the architrave and frieze of a Doric entablature

3. anatomy any bandlike structure or part

4. any tapeworm of the genus Taenia, such as T. soleum, a parasite of man that uses the pig as its intermediate host

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Etymology

Origin of taenia

First recorded in 1555–65; from Latin, from Greek tainía “band, ribbon”; taenia defs. 4 is from New Latin, Latin, as above

Example Sentences

Sphinx on the right has her hair bound with a narrow taenia.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

The hair was yellow, and the taenia was painted with a white pattern on a red 53 ground.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

The species mentioned specifically are lumbrici and ascarides or cucubitini, though the terms long, round, short and broad are also employed, and probably include the tape worm or taenia lata.

From Gilbertus Anglicus Medicine of the Thirteenth Century by Handerson, Henry Ebenezer

A portrait figure of an old man, whose head is bound with a taenia, reclines on a couch with a two-handled cup in his left hand.

From A Catalogue of Sculpture in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities, British Museum, Volume I (of 2) by Smith, A. H.

"Yes; you've now seen the heart of the government, cousin, and you must next be shown the ascarides, the taenia, the intestinal worm,—the republican, since I must needs name him," said Leon.

From Unconscious Comedians by Wormeley, Katharine Prescott