calotte

Etymology

Borrowed from French calotte, diminutive of calot, from écale (“husk, shell (of a nut)”) (due to similar shape and closely fitting the head), from Old French escale, from Old High German scāla (cognate to English scale).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɒt

Noun

calotte (plural calottes)

1. A skullcap worn by Roman Catholic priests.

   Synonym: zucchetto

2. (archaic) The vertical central area of the crown of a bird's head.
3. (architecture) A round cavity or depression, in the form of a cup or cap, lathed and plastered; used to diminish the rise or elevation of a moderate chapel, alcove, etc. which would otherwise be too high for other pieces of the apartment.
4. (anatomy) The upper (superior) or lower (inferior) half of the globe of the eye.

Further reading

• Calotte on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Coletta, cattelo

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from Latin calotta, from Old Occitan calotta. Alternatively from Latin calautica (“covering for the head of women”), probably loaned via Ancient Greek from a non-Indo-European language.

Noun

calotte f (plural calottes)

1. zucchetto (skullcap worn by Roman Catholic clergy)
2. kippah (Jewish cap)
3. (Belgium) calotte (religious skullcap)
4. (Belgium, college slang) cap worn by students of Belgian Catholic universities after the corona ceremony (a sort of hazing)

   Antonym: penne

5. (by extension) cap (of ice)

Further reading

• “calotte” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Noun

calotte f

1. plural of calotta

Anagrams

• caletto, calettò, coletta