Pica

noun

a unit of type size and line length equal to 12 points (about 1/6 inch or 4.2 mm).

late 16th century: from Anglo-Latin pica (literally ‘magpie’), commonly identified with a 15th-century book of rules about Church feasts, but no edition of such a pica printed in ‘pica’ type is known.

1. a tendency or craving to eat substances other than normal food (such as clay, plaster, or ashes), occurring during childhood or pregnancy, or as a symptom of disease.

   adults with pica tend to be highly selective

mid 16th century: modern Latin, from Latin, literally ‘magpie’, probably translating Greek kissa ‘magpie’, also ‘false appetite’.