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cel

(sĕl)

A transparent sheet of celluloid or plastic, used to layer elements of an animated image on top of a background in order to reduce the number of elements that need to be re-created for each frame.

[Short for CELLULOID.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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