"A slender spine, prickle, or other needle-like structure; (in polychaete annelids) a chitinous rod forming an internal support for a parapodium", Late 18th cent. From post-classical Latin acicula, lit. ‘small pin’, alteration or variant of acucula from classical Latin acus needle (from a variant (u-stem) of the same Indo-European base as classical Latin aciēs: see acies) + -cula.[acicula etymology, acicula origin, 英语词源]