midrib
/ˈmɪdrɪb/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.05 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The strengthened vein down the middle of a flower petal or simple leaf or leaflet.
noun
The continuation of the petiole of a pinnately compound leaf around which the leaflets attach.
noun
The shaft of a feather.
Example Sentences
- "The midribs of the immense leaves form one of the most useful articles in these lands, supplying the place of bamboo, to which for many purposes they are superior."
- "They first appear as two ordinary feathers, rather shorter than the rest of the tail; the second stage would no doubt be that shown in a specimen of Paradisea apoda, in which the feathers are moderately lengthened, and with the web narrowed in the middle; the third stage is shown by a specimen which has part of the midrib bare, and terminated by a spatulate web; in another the bare midrib is a little dilated and semi-cylindrical, and the terminal web very small; in a fifth, the perfect black horny riband is formed, but it bears at its extremity a brown spatulate web, while in another a portion of the black riband itself bears, for a portion of its length, a narrow brown web."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *me Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-? Proto-Indo-European *-dʰe Proto-Indo-European *médʰi Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *médʰyos Proto-Germanic *midjaz Proto-West Germanic *midi Old English midd Middle English mid English mid English mid- English rib English midrib From mid- + rib.
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.