ancillary

Etymology

From Latin ancillāris, from ancilla (“maid”), diminutive of ancula, feminine of anculus (“a male servant”), from ambi- (“about”) + Proto-Indo-European *kwol-o-, from base *kwel- (“move round, turn about, be much about”).^[1]

See ambi- for cognate terms of prefix, such as ambulate; cycle is cognate from the Proto-Indo-European root.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈænsəˌleɹiː/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iː

Adjective

ancillary (comparative more ancillary, superlative most ancillary)

1. Subordinate; secondary; auxiliary

   Synonym: accessory

   • 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, Chapter 3:

     […] how easily he took all things along with him,—the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man.

   • 1898, John Wesley Powell, Truth and Error, Chapter 7

     [E]very organ of the body, whatever function it may perform, must also perform the other four functions in an ancillary manner.

Noun

ancillary (plural ancillaries)

1. Something that serves an ancillary function, such as an easel for a painter.
2. (archaic) An auxiliary.

References

• ancillary in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• ancillary in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• ancillary at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Carlylian, cranially