pipette
UK[pɪˈpɛt]US[paɪˈpɛt]
n
a slender tube used in a laboratory for transferring or measuring small quantities of liquid, typically by drawing it up using suction.
Morpheme Breakdown
pipe
ette
pipe
ette
Etymology
the word 'pipette' is a modern scientific term with a transparent french construction. it is derived from the french word 'pipette', which itself is a diminutive form of 'pipe', meaning a tube or a small pipe. the french 'pipe' traces back to latin 'pipare', an imitative verb meaning 'to chirp' or 'to peep', likely referencing the sound made by early wind instruments or pipes. thus, the etymological journey moves from a sound-imitative latin verb, to a general term for a tube in french, to its specific diminutive form adopted into english to denote a precise, small-scale laboratory instrument for handling liquids.
Analysis
Structure: pipe + ette
pipe (from old english 'pipa', meaning a tube or hollow cylinder, here functioning as the core root); ette (a diminutive suffix of french origin, indicating a small version of something).
Examples
she carefully used a glass pipette to add the reagent drop by drop.
the protocol requires a sterile pipette for each sample to avoid contamination.
he calibrated the micropipette before measuring the tiny volume of dna solution.