vermiculation

Meaning

Noun

• The process of being turned into a worm.
• The state of being infested or consumed by worms.
• A pattern of irregular wavy lines resembling worms or their casts or tracks, found on the plumage of birds, used to decorate artworks and buildings, etc.
• peristalsis.

Origin

• From Latin vermiculatio, from vermiculārī + -tiō (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *-tis ("suffix forming abstract or action nouns from verb roots")). Vermiculārī is the present active infinitive of vermiculor, from vermis (from Proto-Indo-European *wr̥mis ("worm"), possibly from *wer-).