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gracility

{{short description|Slenderness of build}}

{{redirect-distinguish|Gracile|GRACILE syndrome}}

{{Wiktionary|gracile|gracility}}

Gracility is slenderness, the condition of being gracile, which means slender. It derives from the Latin adjective gracilis (masculine or feminine), or gracile (neuter),{{cite encyclopedia| editor-last1= Gray| editor-first1= Mason D.| editor-last2= Jenkins| editor-first2= Thornton| title= gracile| encyclopedia= Latin for Today, Book 2| publisher= Ginn and Co., Ltd. |year= 1934}} which in either form means slender, and when transferred for example to discourse takes the sense of "without ornament", "simple" or various similar connotations.{{cite encyclopedia| editor-last= Simpson| editor-first= D. P. | title= gracile |encyclopedia= Cassell's Latin Dictionary: Latin-English, English-Latin |publisher= Cassell |location=London |year=1977 |isbn=0-02-522580-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/cassellsnewlatin00dpsi }}

In Glossary of Botanic Terms, B. D. Jackson speaks dismissively{{cite encyclopedia| last= Jackson| first= Benjamin Daydon| title= gracile| encyclopedia= A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent| edition= 4th | year= 1928| publisher= Gerald Duckworth & Co.| place= London}} W.C.2 of an entry in earlier dictionary of A. A. Crozier{{cite encyclopedia| last= Crozier| first= Arthur Alger| title= gracile| encyclopedia= A Dictionary of Botanical Terms| publisher= Henry Holt & Co |year= 1893}} as follows: "Gracilis (Lat.), slender. Crozier has the needless word 'gracile'". However, his objection would be hard to sustain in current usage; apart from the fact that gracile is a natural and convenient term, it is hardly a neologism. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary{{cite encyclopedia| editor-last1= Little| editor-first1= William |editor-last2= Fowler | editor-first2= H.W.| editor-last3= Coulson | editor-first3= J.| editor-last4= Onions| editor-first4= C.T. |title= gracile| encyclopedia= Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principals| publisher= Oxford at the Clarendon Press |year= 1968| isbn= }} gives the source date for that usage as 1623 and indicates the word is misused (through association with grace) for "gracefully slender". This misuse is unfortunate at least, because the terms gracile and grace are unrelated: the etymological root of grace is the Latin word gratia from gratus, meaning 'pleasing', and has nothing to do with slenderness or thinness.{{cn|date= July 2015}}

In biology

In biology, the term is in common use, whether as English or Latin:

  • The term gracile{{Cite web|url=https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/tutorials/pglossary.htm#gracile|title = Gracile}}—and its opposite, robust{{Cite web|url=https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/tutorials/pglossary.htm#robust|title=Robust}}—occur in discussion of the morphology of various hominids for example.
  • The gracile fasciculus is a particular bundle of axon fibres in the spinal cord
  • The gracile nucleus is a particular structure of neurons in the medulla oblongata
  • "GRACILE syndrome", is associated with a BCS1L mutation

In biological taxonomy, gracile is the specific name or specific epithet for various species. Where the gender is appropriate, the form is gracilis. Examples include:

The same root appears in the names of some genera and higher taxa:

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

Category:Biology terminology

Category:Animal anatomy

Category:Morphology (biology)