meniscus
/məˈnɪs.kəs/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.77 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A crescent moon, or an object shaped like it.
noun
A lens which is convex on one side and concave on the other, being crescent-shaped in cross-section.
noun
The curved surface of liquids in tubes, whether concave or convex, caused by the surface tension of the liquid.
noun
Either of two parts of the human knee that provide structural integrity to the knee when it undergoes tension and torsion.
Example Sentences
- "And from Crabbe's own forehead sweat dripped or gathered into a kind of meniscus to be scooped off."
- "He opened wide both casements; they gave on a parking place four floors below; the thin meniscus overhead was too wan to illumine the roofs of the houses descending toward the invisible lake [...]."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s Proto-Hellenic *méns Ancient Greek μείς (meís) Proto-Indo-European *-iskos Ancient Greek -ῐ́σκος (-ĭ́skos) Ancient Greek μηνῐ́σκος (mēnĭ́skos) English meniscus From Ancient Greek μηνίσκος (mēnískos, “crescent”), from μήνη (mḗnē, “moon”). Piecewise doublet of moonish.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /məˈnɪs.kəs/
- British English: /məˈnɪs.kəs/