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petiole (PET-ee-ohl) - n., (botany) the stalk that attaches the blade of a leaf to the stem; (entomology) in some insects, the slender segment joining the abdomen to the thorax.
The technical name for a wasp waist, in that latter sense. The former is better known, but for some reason I keep thinking that a petiole is a part of a flower -- thus running the word, in hopes of fixing it better in memory. Borrowed in 1753 from either French pétiole or its source New Latin petiolus, leafstalk, a special use of Latin petiolus, small foot, a scribal variant of pediculus, diminutive of pes, foot.
And that concludes this week's stealth theme of words that are successively one letter longer than the previous.
---L.
The technical name for a wasp waist, in that latter sense. The former is better known, but for some reason I keep thinking that a petiole is a part of a flower -- thus running the word, in hopes of fixing it better in memory. Borrowed in 1753 from either French pétiole or its source New Latin petiolus, leafstalk, a special use of Latin petiolus, small foot, a scribal variant of pediculus, diminutive of pes, foot.
And that concludes this week's stealth theme of words that are successively one letter longer than the previous.
---L.
