Word.ws English Dictionary

cotyle

/ˈkɒtɪliː/

cotyle noun: a unit of Greek liquid measure. Also the alternative form of kotyle.

Noun

cotyle (plural cotyles or cotylae or cotylai)

  1. (historical) A unit of Greek liquid measure.
    • […] if, however, the proportion given in § 3 of one cotyle to two choenices be taken, it would be but two χόες. […] The prisoners at Sphacteria were allowed two Attic choenices of meal and two cotylae of wine; their servants were given half this amount (Thuc. iv. 16).1912, W[alter] W[ybergh] How, J[oseph] Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, Clarendon Press, page 86
    • […] add a cotyle of oil, a half-cotyle of honey, a cotyle of sweet white wine, and two cotylai of beets; boil these until you think they have the proper consistency; then strain through a linen cloth, and add a cotyle of Attic honey to them, if you do not wish to boil the honey together with them...1988, Hippocrates, translated by Paul Potter, Hippocrates, Heinemann, →ISBN, page 59
  2. (historical) Synonym of hemina (“a unit of Roman liquid measure”).
    • Again, they give the patient a cotyle of hulwort, clary seed, or caper root with half a drachm of squill; or an acetabulum of germander or thyme in three cyathi of oxymel; or two cotylae of alexanders seed with three cyathi of wine; or a cotyle of fennel seed and libanotis (Latin rosmarinum...1950, Caelius Aurelianus, translated by Israel Edward Drabkin, On Acute Diseases and On Chronic Diseases, University of Chicago Press, page 749
    Synonyms:
    hemina
  3. Synonym of acetabulum (“any of various cup-shaped joints, organs, or skin features in various animals”).
    Synonyms:
    acetabulum

Also used as

cotyle is also the alternative form of kotyle.

Synonyms of cotyle

Forms of cotyle

pluralcotyles
pluralcotylae
pluralcotylai
alternative formcotyla

Origin of cotyle

From Latin cotylē and Ancient Greek κοτύλη (kotúlē, “cup, half-pint”). Doublet of kotyle and kotylos.

Words formed from cotyle

Questions about cotyle

What does cotyle mean?
Cotyle means a unit of Greek liquid measure.
What part of speech is cotyle?
Cotyle is a noun.
How do you pronounce cotyle?
Cotyle is pronounced /ˈkɒtɪliː/ (UK).
What is the plural of cotyle?
The plural of cotyle is cotyles.

Words near cotyle in the dictionary

  1. Coty
  2. cotyla
  3. cotylae
  4. cotylai
  5. cotylar
  6. cotyle
  7. cotyledon
  8. cotyledonal
  9. cotyledonar
  10. cotyledonary
  11. cotyledonoid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cotyle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cotyle.wav.

Cite this entry: “cotyle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cotyle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.