Anthela

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A genus of moths in the family Anthelidae, found mainly in Australia and New Guinea
2. A group of Australian moths classified within the Anthelidae family of lappet-like insects
3. Name given to a genus of moths native to Australia, belonging to the family Anthelidae

Etymology: Anthela is a medical and zoological term, and its history is one of simple classical compounding rather than a story of a famous coiner. It comes from Greek "anth-", meaning "flower" (in the sense of the bloom or surface of something), combined with "hele", a word for a wound or sore, in the sense of an ulcer or scar. Sources show it as a New Latin scientific coinage, formed from these Greek elements, rather than a word that existed in ancient Greek with this sense. The term is used in medicine and in some biological contexts to refer to a sore or lesion that develops on the surface of the skin or a flower-like part of the body. Because it was formed deliberately from classical parts, its earliest uses date to the period when naturalists and physicians were building technical vocabularies, and the exact date of first recorded use in English is uncertain.