aecium

A1E1C3I1U1M3
/ˈiːs.i.əm/

noun

A cuplike fruiting structure of some parasitic rust fungi that contains chains of aeciospores.

OriginNew Latin aecium ← Ancient Greek αἰκίᾱ →
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Meanings

nounaecium (plural aecia or aeciums)

plural aecia · plural aeciums · alternative æcium

  1. biologyA cuplike fruiting structure of some parasitic rust fungi that contains chains of aeciospores.

    1932 August, Ralph Ulysses Cotter, Factors Affecting the Development of the Aecial Stage of Puccinia Graminis, US Dept of Agriculture, Technical Bulletin No. 314, page 29, The writer therefore made observations to determine the conditions under which the aecia open and discharge spores most readily.

    2 more examples

    The receptive hyphae with binucleate cells eventually form the basal cells of the aecium.[…]Many cup-like structures, called aecia, appear on the lower surface of leaf.

    2010, N. K. Soni, Vandana Soni, Fundamentals of Botany, volume 1, page 127

    It is a heteroecious rust and its aecia are produced on species of Oxalis, namely O. stricta, according to Arthur (1929).

    2010, M. S. Patil, Anjali Patil, “16: The Rust Fungi: Systematics, Diseases and Their Management”, in Arun Arya, Analía Edith Perelló, editors, Management of Fungal Plant Pathogens, page 209

Origin

  1. Ancient Greekαἰκίᾱ“injury, insult”
  2. New Latinaecium
  3. Englishaecium

From New Latin aecium, from Ancient Greek αἰκίᾱ (aikíā, “injury, insult”). However Merriam-Webster relates that aecium is a back-formation from aecidium and is not related to the Greek αἰκίᾱ (aikíā). The word aecium was "introduced as a substitute for aecidium by the Purdue University plant pathologist J. C. Arthur (1850–1942) in an effort to reform terminology for rust fungi; see Terminology of the Spore-Structures in the Uredinales, Botanical Gazette, vol. 39 (Mar., 1905), pp. 219-22."

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Cite this entry
APA

aecium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aecium

MLA

“aecium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aecium. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “aecium,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/aecium.

Source: aecium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.