pilula

See also: pílula

Latin

Etymology

Diminutive from pila (“ball, globe”) +‎ -ula, said to be ultimately related to pilus (“hair”), since the balls used in Ancient Roman games were filled with hair.[1][2]

Pronunciation

Noun

pilula f (genitive pilulae); first declension

  1. A small ball, globule; pellet.
  2. (medicine) A pill.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative pilula pilulae
Genitive pilulae pilulārum
Dative pilulae pilulīs
Accusative pilulam pilulās
Ablative pilulā pilulīs
Vocative pilula pilulae

Synonyms

Descendants
  • Catalan: píndola
  • French: pilule
  • Italian: pillola
  • → Middle Low German: pille
  • Old Galician-Portuguese:
  • Spanish: píldora

References
  • “pilula”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • pilula in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • pilula in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  1. “pill”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
  2. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “pill”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
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