echinus
noun
echinus is a noun meaning “A sea urchin” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled E-C-H-I-N-U-S, and it appears about once in every 44 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of echinus is echinuses or echini.
What does echinus mean?
noun
- 1
A sea urchin.
- 2
The rounded moulding forming the bell of the capital of the Grecian Doric style, which is of a peculiar elastic curve.
- 3
The quarter-round moulding (ovolo) of the Roman Doric style.
- 4
The egg-and-anchor or egg-and-dart moulding, because often identified with the Roman Doric capital.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of echinus
- echinuses plural
- echini plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is echinus?
Echinus appears about once in every 44 million words in written English, the 204,233rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Where does echinus come from?
From Latin echīnus (“hedgehog; sea urchin”), from Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος (ekhînos).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).