echinus
/ɪˈkaɪnəs/
noun
- A sea urchin, a small round sea animal with a hard shell covered in spines.
- The diver carefully picked up an echinus from the ocean floor.
- An echinus uses its spines to move slowly across the seabed.
- Children love to look at echinus shells washed up on the beach.
- In architecture, a rounded molding just below the abacus of a Doric or Ionic column capital.
- The echinus of the ancient Greek column was beautifully carved.
- Architecture students studied the curve of the echinus in the temple ruins.
- The stone echinus had weathered over centuries but still showed its original shape.