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ancilla

[ an-sil-uh ]

noun

, plural an·cil·las.
  1. an accessory; auxiliary or adjunct.
  2. Archaic. a maidservant.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of ancilla1

First recorded in 1870–75; from Latin: literally, “handmaid,” diminutive of ancula “maid,” from unrecorded anquola, equivalent to an-, a variant of ambi- “around” + -quola, noun derivative of the root kwel-, kwol- “turn about,” hence “one who circles around”; cognate with Greek amphípolos “attendant”; ambi-, amphi-, ancile

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Example Sentences

The more data and ancilla qubits that make up each logical qubit, the more errors that can be detected and corrected.

The larger is Ancilla pyramidalis, the smaller Ancilla mucronata.

Surely those enlightened men mused with spiritual benefit before the Ecce ancilla Domini at Moissac?

Serva means a female slave, with especial reference to her legal condition; ancilla, in ordinary life, as the feminine of servus.

There are two other kinds of Ancilla found in New Zealand, the one much larger, and the other much smaller, than the one depicted.

At the age of twenty-two, Ancilla turned a dancer and Spina became a singer.

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ancileancillary