pecten

American  

[pek-tuhn] / ˈpɛk tən /

noun

plural

pectens, pectines

1. Zoology, Anatomy.

   1. a comblike part or process.

   2. a pigmented vascular membrane with parallel folds suggesting the teeth of a comb, projecting into the vitreous humor of the eye in birds and reptiles.

2. any bivalve mollusk of the genus Pecten; scallop.

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pecten British  

/ ˈpɛktɪn /

noun

1. a comblike structure in the eye of birds and reptiles, consisting of a network of blood vessels projecting inwards from the retina, which it is thought to supply with oxygen

2. any other comblike part or organ

3. any scallop of the genus Pecten, which swim by expelling water from their shell valves in a series of snapping motions

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Etymology

Origin of pecten

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin pecten comb, rake, scallop, pubes, akin to pectere, Greek pékein to comb, card

Example Sentences

There is no pecten, but the numerous hyaloid arteries which are found in the embryo represent it.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 1 "Evangelical Church Conference" to "Fairbairn, Sir William" by Various

From near the entrance of the optic nerve, through the original choroidal fissure, arises the much-folded pecten, deeply pigmented and very vascular, far into the vitreous humour.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various

"Sha'r," properly, hair of body, pile, especially the pecten.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 09 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

The Stellaria holostea is "lady's white petticoat," and the Scandix pecten is "old wife's darning-needles."

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

The praegenital somite, VII PrG, is still present, but has lost its rudimentary appendages; go, the genital operculum, left half; Km, the left pecten; abp4 to abp7, the rudimentary appendages of the lung-sacs.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 3 "Apollodorus" to "Aral" by Various