English

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14th to 16th century specula (medical instrument).
 
Disposable modern vaginal speculum (medical instrument).
 
Male American Black Duck with purple speculum.

Etymology

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Learned borrowing from Latin speculum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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speculum (plural specula or speculums)

  1. (medicine) A medical instrument used during an examination to dilate an orifice.
  2. A mirror, especially one used in a telescope.
  3. (ornithology) A bright, lustrous patch of colour found on the wings of ducks and some other birds, usually situated on the distal portions of the secondary quills, and much more brilliant in the adult male than in the female.
    Synonyms: mirror, (archaic) beauty spot
  4. A lookout place.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From speciō +‎ -ulum (instrument noun suffix). Compare with spectrum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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speculum n (genitive speculī); second declension

  1. mirror, looking-glass / looking glass

Declension

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Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative speculum specula
Genitive speculī speculōrum
Dative speculō speculīs
Accusative speculum specula
Ablative speculō speculīs
Vocative speculum specula
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Descendants

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  • Late Latin: speclum (see there for further descendants)

Further reading

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  • speculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • speculum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • speculum 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)
  • speculum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • speculum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • speculum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Romanian

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Noun

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speculum n (plural speculumuri)

  1. Alternative form of specul

Declension

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