capillary

From Latin capillāris (“pertaining to the hair”), from capillus (“the hair, properly of the head”), from caput (“head”).

• (Canada) IPA^(key): /kəˈpɪl.ə.ɹi/, /ˈkæpɪˌlɛɹi/
• (Received Pronunciation, General Australian) IPA^(key): /kəˈpɪl.ə.ɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkæpɪˌlɛɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• (Philippines) IPA^(key): /käˈpɪʎä.ɹi/, /käˈpɪʎä.ɾi/
• Rhymes: -ɪləɹi

capillary (comparative more capillary, superlative most capillary)

1. Of or pertaining to hair.
2. Of or pertaining to a narrow tube.
3. Of, relating to, or caused by surface tension.

capillary (plural capillaries)

1. A narrow tube.
2. (anatomy) Any of the small blood vessels (from 5 to 10 micrometres/micrometers (μm) in diameter) that connect arteries to veins (They are the smallest blood vessels in the body: they convey blood between the arterioles and venules).

• artery
• circulatory system
• vein

• “capillary”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “capillary”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.