Meanings
comparative more nummular · superlative most nummular
- Flattened with a rounded form, as a disc; coin-shaped.
- broadlymedicineCharacterized by lesions (especially on the cornea or skin) which are round with well-defined borders.
Synonyms: coinlike
- broadlyobsoletemedicineOf sputum: forming flat, round shapes (formerly thought to be a symptom of tuberculosis).
NUMMULAR […] An epithet applied to the sputa in phthisis, when they flatten at the bottom of the vessel, like a piece of money.
[1839, Robley Dunglison, “NUMMULAR”, in Medical Lexicon. A New Dictionary of Medical Science, […], 2nd edition, Philadelphia, Pa.: Lea and Blanchard, successors to Carey and Co., →OCLC, page 421, column 2Synonyms: coinlike, nummulary, nummulated
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf or relating to coins or money.
adjectiveCharacterized by lesions (especially on the cornea or skin) which are round with well-defined borders.
adjectiveOf sputum: forming flat, round shapes (formerly thought to be a symptom of tuberculosis).
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*nem-“to distribute; to give; to take”
- Ancient Greekνόμος“kind of coin”
- grc-dorνοῦμμος
- Latinnummulus“(small amount of) money”
- Englishnummular
From Latin nummulus (“(small amount of) money”) + English -ar (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘of, pertaining to, or near’). Nummulus is the diminutive of nummus (“a coin; piece of money”) + -ulus (diminutive suffix); while nummus is from Doric Greek νοῦμμος (noûmmos), from Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos, “kind of coin”), from νέμω (némō, “to deal out, dispense, distribute”) (from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to distribute; to give; to take”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns).
More words from Latin, grc-dor, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 硬幣形的 /硬币形的
- 硬幣形的 /硬币形的 (yìngbìxíngde)flattened with a rounded form; coin-shaped
French nummulaire, nummulaire
- nummulairecharacterized by lesions which are round with well-defined borders
- nummulaireflattened with a rounded form; coin-shaped
Italian nummulare, nummulare
- nummularecharacterized by lesions which are round with well-defined borders
- nummulareflattened with a rounded form; coin-shaped
Latin nummulāris
- nummulārisflattened with a rounded form; coin-shaped
Portuguese numular, numular
- numularcharacterized by lesions which are round with well-defined borders
- numularflattened with a rounded form; coin-shaped
Spanish numular, numular
- numularcharacterized by lesions which are round with well-defined borders
- numularflattened with a rounded form; coin-shaped
Swedish nummulär
- nummulärcharacterized by lesions which are round with well-defined borders
Cite this entry
nummular. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nummular
“nummular.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nummular. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “nummular,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/nummular.
Source: nummular on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.