barbule

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   one of the minute branches growing from a feather barb, often bearing hooks that interlock with neighboring branches

   Under the microscope, each barbule hooked neatly onto the next feather barb.

2. 2
   noun

   a very small barb, beard, or barblike projection

   The seed's tiny barbule caught on the wool fabric.

Borrowed from Latin barbula, 'little beard,' the diminutive of barba, 'beard.' Naturalists applied the term to the fine branchlets of a feather because they project from the larger barbs like tiny hairs.

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