Meanings
plural aecidia · plural aecidiums · alternative æcidium · alternative oecidium
- The cupulate fruiting body borne upon the mycelium of certain fungi commonly parasitic upon specimens of the Compositae, Lamiaceae, Leguminosae, and Ranunculaceae families
- biologyA member of the form genus Aecidium.
Origin
- Ancient Greekοἰκίδιον
- Ancient Greekαἰκίᾱ“injury”
- New Latinaecidium
- Englishaecidium
From New Latin aecidium, the diminutive form of Ancient Greek αἰκίᾱ (aikíā, “injury”). However Merriam-Webster takes the origin from Ancient Greek οἰκίδιον (oikídion) and refers to the botanist John Hill, in his A General Natural History, or New and Accurate Descriptions of the Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals, of the Different Parts of the World, vol. II, A History of Plants (London: Printed for Thomas Osborne, 1751), p. 64: "We have called this genus, distinguished by its peculiar cells, Æcidium, from the Greek οικιδιον, cellula." Compare also many other fungal spore-related terms in -idium, most coined after this one.
More words from New Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Portuguese ecídio
- ecídiothe cupulate fruiting body borne upon the mycelium of certain fungi
Cite this entry
aecidium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aecidium
“aecidium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aecidium. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aecidium,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aecidium.
Source: aecidium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.