rectrix

== English == === Etymology === Learned borrowing from Latin rēctrīx (“one who directs”). By surface analysis, rector +‎ -trix. === Noun === rectrix (plural rectrices) A governess; a rectoress. A flight feather on the tails of birds, used for directional control. ==== Related terms ==== rectricial === References === “rectrix, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000. == Latin == === Etymology === From regō, rēctum (“to rule”, verb) +‎ -trīx f (“-ess”, agentive suffix). === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈreːk.triːks] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈrɛk.triks] === Noun === rēctrīx f (genitive rēctrīcis, masculine rēctor); third declension governess, directress (New Latin) rectrix, steering-feather ==== Declension ==== Third-declension noun. ==== Descendants ==== → English: rectrix → French: rectrice (learned) === References === “rectrix”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette. rectrix in Georges, Karl Ernst; Georges, Heinrich (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th edition, volume 2, Hahnsche Buchhandlung “rectrix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press