barnacle

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun marine crustaceans with feathery food-catching appendages; free-swimming as larvae; as adults form a hard shell and live attached to submerged surfaces
  2. noun European goose smaller than the brant; breeds in the far north

Etymology

Uncertain, with long-debated origin. From Middle English barnakille, from earlier bernake, bernekke, most likely from Old Northern French bernaque (“barnacle”) (compare French barnache), probably from Medieval Latin barneca (“limpet”), probably from Gaulish (compare Welsh brennig, Irish bairneach), from Proto-Celtic *barannīkos, from *barinā (“rock, rocky ground”) (compare Old Irish barenn (“boulder”)), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥H- (“hill, mountain”) + Proto-Celtic *-ākos, from Proto-Indo-European *-kos, *-ḱos; for sense development, compare Ancient Greek λέπας (lépas, “rock”) which gave λεπάς (lepás, “limpet”). First attestations referred to the goose, with corresponding folklore (q.v.).

In classic literature

Synonyms

cirriped, cirripede

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