antenna

 noun (plural antennae )

1 Zoology a long, thin sensory appendage found in pairs on the heads of
insects and some other arthropods.

2 (plural also antennas) chiefly North American or technical an aerial.

3 (antennae) the faculty of instinctively detecting and interpreting subtle
signs: his political antennae remain as sharp as ever.

DERIVATIVES

antennal adjective

antennary adjective

ORIGIN

C17: from Latin, alteration of antemna 'yard' (of a ship), used in plural to
translate Greek keraioi 'horns (of insects)'.