formica

A genericization of the trademark Formica, which see.

formica (countable and uncountable, plural formicas)

1. A heat-resistant laminate material used to veneer countertops.

• arborite

• Formica (the trademarked brand name material)
• Arborite (the trademarked brand name material)

• AFRICOM, aciform

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Switzerland):

  (file)

formica m (plural formicas)

1. formica

From Latin formīca, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *morwi. Cognates include Ancient Greek μύρμηξ (múrmēx).

• formicola

• IPA^(key): /forˈmi.ka/
• Rhymes: -ika
• Hyphenation: for‧mì‧ca

formica f (plural formiche)

1. ant

   Synonym: formicola

Borrowed from English Formica.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔr.mi.ka/
• Rhymes: -ɔrmika
• Hyphenation: fòr‧mi‧ca

formica f (plural formiche)

1. Formica (a plastic laminated material)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔr.mi.ka/
• Rhymes: -ɔrmika
• Hyphenation: fòr‧mi‧ca

formica

1. feminine singular of formico

• formica in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• formica in Luciano Canepari, Dizionario di Pronuncia Italiana (DiPI)
• formica in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• formica in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• formica in sapere.it – De Agostini Editore
• formica in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• cofirma

• furmīca (Late Latin, proscribed)

Traditionally, from a form with earlier initial /m/, such as Proto-Italic *mormīkā, considered to derive from Proto-Indo-European *morwi(s) (“ant”), a term with many deviating forms – probably taboo distortions – in various Indo-European languages. The irregular sound change can be explained by dissimilation of /m…m/ to /f…m/.^[1]

Cognates would include Sanskrit वम्र (vamra), Ancient Greek μύρμηξ (múrmēx), Old Church Slavonic мравии (mravii), Polish mrówka, Old Irish moirb, Welsh myrion, Old Norse maurr, English mire, Albanian morr. Compare especially Sanskrit वल्मीक (valmī́ka, “anthill”) and Iron Ossetian мӕлдзыг (mælʒyg, “ant”), which could point to Proto-Indo-European *morm-iH-ko-.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [fɔrˈmiː.ka]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [forˈmiː.ka]

formīca f (genitive formīcae); first declension

1. ant
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.402–403:

     Ac velut ingentem formīcae farris acervum
     cum populant, hiemīs memorēs, tēctōque repōnunt; [...].

     And just as ants, when they plunder a big heap of grain — mindful of winter — and store it in their nest; [...].

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Proverbs.6.6:

     vāde ad formīcam ō piger et cōnsīderā viās eius et disce sapientiam

     Go to the ant, O sluggard, and consider her ways, and learn wisdom
     (Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.; 1752 CE)

First-declension noun.

• “formica”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “formica”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "formica", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• formica in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.