nautilus

Etymology

From Latin nautilus, from Ancient Greek ναυτίλος (nautílos, “paper nautilus, sailor”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔː.tɪ.ləs/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnɔ.tɪ.ləs/, /ˈnɑ.tɪ.ləs/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

nautilus (plural nautiluses or nautili)

1. A marine mollusc, of the family Nautilidae native to the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean, which has tentacles and a spiral shell with a series of air-filled chambers, of which Nautilus is the type genus.
   • 1956 — Arthur C. Clarke, The City and the Stars, p 44

     He was still prepared to go on collecting all that life could offer, like a chambered nautilus patiently adding new cells to its slowly expanding spiral.

References

• Nautilidae on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• nautilos

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ναυτίλος (nautílos, “nautilus, sailor”); see naval.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈnau̯.ti.lus/, [ˈnau̯.tɪ.ɫʊs]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Noun

nautilus m (genitive nautilī); second declension

1. paper nautilus, argonaut (genus Argonauta)

References

• nautilus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• nautilus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette