{{short description|Slenderness of build}} {{redirect-distinguish|Gracile|GRACILE syndrome}} '''Gracility''' is slenderness, the condition of being '''gracile''', which means slender. It derives from the Latin adjective ''gracilis'' (masculine or feminine), or ''gracile'' (neuter),<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| editor-last1= Gray| editor-first1= Mason D.| editor-last2= Jenkins| editor-first2= Thornton| title= gracile| encyclopedia= Latin for Today, Book 2| publisher= Ginn and Co., Ltd. |year= 1934}}</ref> which in either form means slender, and when transferred for example to discourse takes the sense of "without ornament", "simple" or various similar connotations.<ref name="isbn0-02-522580-4">{{cite encyclopedia| editor-last= Simpson| editor-first= D. P. | title= gracile |encyclopedia= Cassell's Latin Dictionary: Latin-English, English-Latin |publisher= Cassell |location=London |year=1977 |isbn=0-02-522580-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/cassellsnewlatin00dpsi }}</ref>
In ''Glossary of Botanic Terms'', B. D. Jackson speaks dismissively<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| last= Jackson| first= Benjamin Daydon| title= gracile| encyclopedia= A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their Derivation and Accent| edition= 4th | year= 1928| publisher= Gerald Duckworth & Co.| place= London}} W.C.2</ref> of an entry in earlier dictionary of A. A. Crozier<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| last= Crozier| first= Arthur Alger| title= gracile| encyclopedia= A Dictionary of Botanical Terms| publisher= Henry Holt & Co |year= 1893}}</ref> as follows: "Gracilis (Lat.), slender. Crozier has the needless word 'gracile'". However, his objection would be hard to sustain in current usage; apart from the fact that ''gracile'' is a natural and convenient term, it is hardly a neologism. The ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary''<ref name="OED">{{cite encyclopedia| editor-last1= Little| editor-first1= William |editor-last2= Fowler | editor-first2= H.W.| editor-last3= Coulson | editor-first3= J.| editor-last4= Onions| editor-first4= C.T. |title= gracile| encyclopedia= Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principals| publisher= Oxford at the Clarendon Press |year= 1968| isbn= }}</ref> gives the source date for that usage as 1623 and indicates the word is misused (through association with ''grace'') for "gracefully slender".<ref name="OED" /> This misuse is unfortunate at least, because the terms ''gracile'' and ''grace'' are unrelated: the etymological root of ''grace'' is the Latin word ''gratia'' from ''gratus'', meaning 'pleasing',<ref name=OED/> and has nothing to do with slenderness or thinness.{{cn|date= July 2015}}
== In biology == In biology, the term is in common use, whether as English or Latin: * The term ''gracile'' and its opposite, ''robust''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hal.science/hal-03843982/document|title=The concept of robusticity in (palaeo-) anthropology and its broad range of application: a short review}}</ref>—occur in discussion of the morphology of various hominids for example. * The ''gracile fasciculus'' is a particular bundle of axon fibres in the spinal cord * The gracile nucleus is a particular structure of neurons in the medulla oblongata * "GRACILE syndrome", is associated with a BCS1L mutation * The gracilis muscle is a thin, flat muscle of the medial thigh
In biological taxonomy, '''''gracile''''' is the specific name or specific epithet for various species. Where the gender is appropriate, the form is '''''gracilis'''''. Examples include: * ''Campylobacter gracilis'', a species of bacterium implicated in foodborne disease * ''Ctenochasma gracile'', a late Jurassic pterosaur * ''Eriophorum gracile'', a species of sedge, Cyperaceae * ''Euglena gracilis'', a unicellular flagellate protist * ''Hydrophis gracilis'', a species of sea snakes * ''Melampodium gracile'', a flowering plant species * ''Moeritherium gracile'', an Eocene mammal species
The same root appears in the names of some genera and higher taxa: * ''Gracilaria'' is a genus of red algae in the order ''Gracilariales'' * ''Gracillaria'' is a genus of leaf miner moths in the superfamily ''Gracillarioidea''
==See also== {{Wiktionary|gracile|gracility}} * Buckling, for the slenderness ratio in engineering * Grace (disambiguation) * Gracilis (disambiguation), a Latin adjective in several species names{{spaced ndash}} as remarked above, the meanings are the same as for gracile, except for their grammatical gender * Somatotype and constitutional psychology
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Biology terminology Category:Animal anatomy Category:Morphology (biology)