imbrication

Meanings

1. A set of tiles or shingles that overlap like the scales of a fish.
2. Overlapping of layers of tissue in wound closure or in correctional or reconstructive surgery.
3. A sedimentary deposition in which small, flat stones are tiled in the same direction so that they overlap.
4. A phenomenon occurring in many Bantu languages in which morphemes interweave in certain morphophonological conditions.
5. The use of relative positioning, often by varying amounts of indentation, to define hierarchical relationships between elements of code.

Etymology

From French imbrication, from Latin imbricātus, from imbricō, from imbrex. By surface analysis, imbricate + -ion.