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guil·loche

(gĭ-lōsh, gē-yōsh)

n.
Architecture

An ornamental border formed of two or more curved bands that interlace to repeat a circular design.

[From French guilloche, burin for carving guilloche, and guillochis, guilloche, both from guillocher, to ornament with guilloche, from Middle French, from dialectal Italian ghiocciare, to drip, drop (perhaps also “to ornament with guilloche,” in reference to the guttae or “drops” ornamenting Doric entablatures), alteration of Italian gocciare, to drip, trickle (from Old Italian, from Vulgar Latin *guttiāre, from Latin gutta, drop, of unknown origin), possibly influenced by ghiotto, gluttonous, greedy (from Old Italian, from Vulgar Latin *gluttus, from alteration of Latin gluttō, gluttōn-, glutton).]

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guilloche

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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