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Webster's 1913 Dictionary

INDICATRIX

In `di *ca "trix, n. Etym: [NL. ] (Geom. of Three Dimensions )

Defn: A certain conic section supposed to be drawn in the tangent plane to any surface, and used to determine the accidents of curvature of the surface at the point of contact. The curve is similar to the intersection of the surface with a parallel to the tangent plane and indefinitely near it. It is an ellipse when the curvature is synclastic, and an hyperbola when the curvature is anticlastic.

New American Oxford Dictionary

indicatrix

in dic a trix |ˈindiˌkātriks, inˈdikə -ˌɪndəˈkeɪtrɪks |(also optical indicatrix ) ▶noun ( pl. indicatrices |-triˌsēz | ) Crystallography an imaginary ellipsoidal surface whose axes represent the refractive indices of a crystal for light following different directions with respect to the crystal axes. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: modern Latin, feminine of Latin indicator ‘something that points out. ’

Oxford Dictionary

indicatrix

indicatrix |ˌɪndɪˈkeɪtrɪks, ɪnˈdɪkətrɪks |(also optical indicatrix ) ▶noun ( pl. indicatrices |-trɪsiːz | ) Crystallography an imaginary ellipsoidal surface whose axes represent the refractive indices of a crystal for light following different directions with respect to the crystal axes. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: modern Latin, feminine of Latin indicator ‘something that points out ’.