Meanings
nounommatidium (plural ommatidia)
plural ommatidia
- biologyOne of the conical substructures which make up the eyes of invertebrates with compound eyes.
The ‘compound’ eyes of insects [...] are made up of large numbers of facets or ommatidia, and in this sense, our own eyes are ‘simple’.
1996, Michael J. Roberts, Spiders of Britain and Northern Europe, Collins, published 1996, page 12
Origin
- Ancient Greekὀμματίδιον“little eye”
- Englishommatidium
From Ancient Greek ὀμματίδιον (ommatídion, “little eye”), equivalent to ὄμμα (ómma, stem ὄμματ-) + -idium.
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek ὀμματίδιον
- ὀμματίδιον (ommatídion)substructure of the eye
Catalan ommatidi
- ommatidisubstructure of the eye
Finnish ommatidi
- ommatidisubstructure of the eye
French ommatidie
- ommatidiesubstructure of the eye
German Ommatidium
- Ommatidiumsubstructure of the eye
Greek ομματίδιο
- ομματίδιο (ommatídio)substructure of the eye
Latin ommatidium
- ommatidiumsubstructure of the eye
Polish omatidium, fasetka
- omatidiumsubstructure of the eye
- fasetkasubstructure of the eye
Russian оммати́дий
- оммати́дий (ommatídij)substructure of the eye
Spanish omatidio
- omatidiosubstructure of the eye
Cite this entry
APA
ommatidium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ommatidium
MLA
“ommatidium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ommatidium. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ommatidium,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ommatidium.
Source: ommatidium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.