combining form of L. spīna spine, thorn (cf. SPINO-), used in various scientific terms, as spini-acute, -dentate, -tuberculate adjs.
Mayne, Expos. Lex. (1859) employs spinicerebral, -folious, -pede to translate corresponding Latin formations; recent Dicts. give a number of other combs., as spinicerebrate, -deltoid, -spirular, -spirulate, esp. anatomical terms relating to the spinal cord and some other part or organ, as spinibulbar, -cerebellar, -muscular, peripheral, etc.
1852. Dana, Crust., I. 323. Hand … spini-dentate on the lower margin. Ibid., 463. The carpus spini-tuberculate above and pilose. Ibid., 479. Anterior angles spini-acute.
