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ro·caille (rō-kī)
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n.
1. A style of decorative art associated with the rococo and characterized by intricate rock, shell, and scroll motifs.
2. Decorative rockwork, often incorporating these motifs.
[French, rock fragments, rocaille, from Old French, rocky ground : roc, rock; akin to roche, rock (from Vulgar Latin *rocca) + -aille, collective and pejorative suff. (from Latin -ālia, neuter pl. of -ālis, adj. suff.)]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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