Testiculum

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small rounded body or projection, especially one resembling a testicle in shape or form
2. A diminutive bulbous or knob-like structure, typically used in anatomical or botanical contexts to describe miniature rounded parts
3. A tiny spherical or ovoid excrescence or swelling on a surface or organism

Etymology: In Latin, "testis" meant "witness," and "testiculus" was its diminutive, so the literal sense was "little witness." How the word came to name the body part is unclear. A common explanation is that the testicles were thought to attest to a man's virility, and that Roman men swore oaths by them, but this is a popular story rather than something the surviving evidence clearly establishes. The same root gives English "testify," "testimony," and "attest," all of which keep the older sense of bearing witness. The anatomical meaning is the one that survived in everyday use, while the legal-witness sense stayed in the family of related words. The diminutive ending is what separates it from "testis," which English took directly as a technical anatomical term.