in nuce

Latin

Etymology

From in +‎ nuce, the ablative singular of nux (“nut”): literally, “in a nut”. Derived from an anecdote in Pliny the Elder, who ascribes to Cicero the claim that the whole Iliad was once written on parchment and enclosed within a nutshell (Naturalis Historia 7.21.85).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /in ˈnu.ke/, [ɪn ˈnʊkɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /in ˈnu.t͡ʃe/, [in ˈnuːt͡ʃe]

Adverb

in nuce (not comparable) (New Latin)

1. in a nutshell; briefly stated
   • 1731, Jakob Wilde, Sueciæ Historia Pragmatica Quæ vulgò Jus Publicum dicitur […], page 5:

     […] adeoque sola eruendas ratione, in nuce, quod dicitur, aut velut in tabula depictas, simul exhibeam.

     […] let me present, at the same time, those things that are to be unearthed by reason alone, in a nutshell, as it is said, or as if depicted in an image.

2. in the embryonic phase; said of something which is just developing or being developed