Incunabulum

//ˌɪn.kjʊˈnæb.jʊ.ləm// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A book, single sheet, or image that was printed before the year 1501 in Europe.

    "Sebastian, a profound student of such lore, had long believed that the book was a mere medieval legend; and he had been startled as well as gratified when he found this copy on the shelves of a dealer in old manuscripts and incunabula."

  2. 2
    The cradle, birthplace, or origin of something. in-plural

Synonyms

All synonyms
fifteenermanuscriptscroll

Example

More examples

"Sebastian, a profound student of such lore, had long believed that the book was a mere medieval legend; and he had been startled as well as gratified when he found this copy on the shelves of a dealer in old manuscripts and incunabula."

Etymology

From Latin incūnābulum (“cradle, origin”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.