Library / English Dictionary

ALA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: alae   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A wing of an insect

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("ala" is a kind of...):

wing (a movable organ for flying (one of a pair))

Holonyms ("ala" is a part of...):

insect (small air-breathing arthropod)

Derivation:

alary (having or resembling wings)

alate ((of seeds or insects) having winglike extensions)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism

Example:

the flat petals of a pea blossom are alae

Classified under:

Nouns denoting body parts

Hypernyms ("ala" is a kind of...):

appendage; outgrowth; process (a natural prolongation or projection from a part of an organism either animal or plant)

Derivation:

alary (having or resembling wings)

alate ((of seeds or insects) having winglike extensions)

Credits