pica
pronunciation
How to pronounce pica in British English:
UK [ˈpaɪkə]
How to pronounce pica in American English:
US ['paɪkə]
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- Noun:
- a linear unit (1/6 inch) used in printing
- eating earth or clay or chalk; occurs in some primitive tribes or sometimes in cases of nutritional deficiency
Word Origin
- pica (n.1)
- "size of type of about six lines to the inch" (12 point), 1580s, probably from pica, name of a book of rules in Church of England for determining holy days (late 15c. in Anglo-Latin), probably from Latin pica "magpie" (see pie (n.2)); the book so called perhaps from the color and the "pied" look of the old type on close-printed pages. The type size was that generally used to print ordinals.
- pica (n.2)
- "pathological craving for substance unfit for food" (such as chalk), 1560s, from Medieval Latin pica "magpie" (see pie (n.2)), probably translating Greek kissa, kitta "magpie, jay," also "false appetite." The connecting notion may be the birds' indiscriminate feeding.
Example
- 1. The magpie , latin name pica , will eat anything , and so will sufferers of pica syndrome .
- 2. Pica , which provided services in europe , was acquired by oclc , with full ownership completed july 3 , 2007 .
- 3. Medical researchers have tenuously linked pica with a mineral deficiency , but according to the national organization for rare disorders , experts have yet to nail down a real , firm cause or cure for this strange disorder .