Oblate

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈɒbleɪt/

Definitions

1. Flattened or compressed at the poles, resulting in a shape that is wider at the equator than from top to bottom
2. Having a shape that is broader at the middle and narrower towards the ends, typically referring to an object that is flattened along an axis
3. Describing a specific geometric configuration where dimensions differ due to compression at the ends while expansion occurs around the center

Etymology: The adjective "oblate", meaning flattened at the poles, is a surprisingly tangled word. Its ancestor is Latin "oblātus", the past participle of "offerre", "to offer", so the oldest sense is literally "offered". That same verb gave English "offer" by a more direct route, which makes the two words doublets. The geometric sense came first through a religious one. In Church Latin, "oblātus" was a noun for a person dedicated to religious life, offered to a monastery, usually as a child. French took this as "oblat", and English adopted it in that monastic sense. The flattened-sphere meaning arrived much later, from the Latin roots "ob" ("in front of") and "lātus" ("broad, wide"), an etymology modelled on "prōlātus", "extended". The idea is that a body bulges outward at the middle and is squashed at the ends, as the Earth is by its rotation.

Synonyms: flattened, disk-shaped, disciform