echinus

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a sea urchin, especially one described by the older zoological name Echinus

   The naturalist placed the living echinus in a shallow tray of seawater.

2. 2
   noun

   architecture: the rounded convex molding beneath the abacus of a classical capital, especially in the Doric order

   The restored column preserved the broad curve of its Doric echinus.

Borrowed from Latin echinus, 'hedgehog or sea urchin,' from Greek ekhinos with the same senses. Architects applied the rounded, swelling shape to a molding in a classical capital.

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