pie

From Hindi पाहि (pāhi, “migrant farmer, passer-through”), from Sanskrit पार्श्व (pārśva, “side, vicinity”).

der

(zoology) Ellipsis of pie-dog (“an Indian breed, a stray dog in Indian contexts”).


abactinal

en-adj

abactinal (comparative more abactinal, superlative most abactinal)

more abactinal (comparative)
most abactinal (superlative)

The so-called mouth is always placed at one end of these poles, and from it radiate the most prominent organs, in consequence of which I have called this side of the body the oral or actinal area, and the opposite side the aboral or abactinal area.

1857, Louis Agassiz, Contributions to Natural History, volume 4, page 376:

(zoology) Pertaining to the surface or end opposite to the mouth in a radiate animal.

abactinaal

pertaining to the surface or end opposite to the mouth in a radiate animal


abaxial

From ab- (“away from”) + axial (“axis”).

The lobule margins, furthermore, are arched away from the lobe, with the consequence that (when fully inflated) the abaxial leaf surface forms the interior lining of the lobule.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page 7:

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

(botany, zoology) Of a side that is facing away from the axis or central line, such as the underside of a leaf, or the back of an animal.

abaxiaal

botany, zoology: of a side away from central line


abdomen

First attested in 1541. Borrowed from Middle French abdomen, from Latin abdomen, possibly from abdō (“conceal”), from ab (“away”) + -dō (“put, place”).

(zoology, entomology) The posterior section of the body, behind the thorax, in insects, crustaceans, and other Arthropoda.

abdomen

posterior section of an arthropod's body


abdominal

abdominal (comparative more abdominal, superlative most abdominal)

more abdominal (comparative)
most abdominal (superlative)

First attested in 1746. From New Latin abdōminālis, from Latin abdōmen. Equivalent to abdomin- + -al. Compare French abdominal.

(ichthyology) Having the ventral fins under the abdomen and behind the pectoral fins.

(ichthyology) Ventral, in describing a fin.

(zoology, obsolete) Belonging to the order Abdominales of fish.


abdominal

(zoology, obsolete) A fish of the order Abdominales.


abdominalia

(zoology) A group of cirriped crustaceans having abdominal appendages.


aberrant

aberrant (comparative more aberrant, superlative most aberrant)

more aberrant (comparative)
most aberrant (superlative)

From Latin aberrāns, present active participle of aberrō (“go astray; err”), from ab (“from”) + errō (“to wander”). See aberr.

The more aberrant any form is, the greater must have been the number of connecting forms which, on my theory, have been exterminated.

1859, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of the Species:

(botany, zoology) Deviating from the ordinary or natural type; exceptional; abnormal.

زائِغ

deviating from the ordinary or natural type; exceptional; abnormal


aberration

en-noun

aberration (countable and uncountable, plural aberrations)

/ˌæb.əˈɹeɪ.ʃn̩/

A learned borrowing from Latin aberrātiō(n) (“relief, diversion”), first attested in 1594, from aberrō (“wander away, go astray”), from ab (“away”) + errō (“wander”). Compare French aberration. By surface analysis, aberrat(e) + -ion.

абера́ция

astronomy: small periodical change of position of heavenly bodies

(zoology, botany) Atypical development or structure; deviation from the normal type; an aberrant organ.

абера́ция

zoology, botany: atypical development or structure


aboral

en-adj

aboral (comparative more aboral, superlative most aboral)

more aboral (comparative)
most aboral (superlative)

From ab- (“away from”) + oral (“the mouth”).

(zoology) Situated opposite to, or away from, the mouth.


abranchiata

From New Latin, from Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + βράγχια (bránkhia, “gills”) + -ata.

(obsolete, zoology) An order of annelids, so called because the species composing it have no special organs of respiration, usually including Oligochaeta.

(obsolete, zoology) Any of a number of other groupings of gill-less animals.


abranchiate

* First attested in the 19th century.
* a- (“not”) + branchiate (“gills”).


abranchiate

(zoology) An organism that does not have gills.


acantha

From Ancient Greek ἄκανθα (ákantha, “thorn”), from ἀκή (akḗ, “thorn”) + ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”).


acanthocephalous

From translingual Acanthocephala + -ous.

suf

translingual <i class="Latn mention" lang="mul">Acanthocephala</i>

(zoology) Having a spiny head, as one of the Acanthocephala.


acanthopterygian

acanthopterygians (plural)
acanthopteran (alternative)

/ˌæk.ænˌθɑp.təˈɹɪd͡ʒ.i.n̩/

From New Latin, from acanthus (“thorn”), (from Ancient Greek ἄκανθος (ákanthos)) + Ancient Greek πτερύγιον (pterúgion) diminutive of πτέρυξ (ptérux, “wing, fin”), from πτερόν (pterón, “feather, wing”).

(zoology) Any fish of the superorder Acanthopterygii.

acanthoptérygien

any fish of the superorder Acanthopterygii


acanthopterygian

/ˌæk.ænˌθɑp.təˈɹɪd͡ʒ.i.n̩/

(zoology) Similar to an acanthopterygian.


acanthopterygious

(zoology) Having fins in which the rays are hard and spinelike; spiny-finned.


acarine

By surface analysis, acar- + -ine; either coined as such, or perhaps predating the prefix per se; see acarid § Etymology.


acaroid

/ˈæk.əˌɹɔɪd/

From New Latin acarus (“member of the former inclusive genus of mites”) + -oid (“likeness”).

af

(biology, zoology) Shaped like or resembling a mite.


acarus

Learned borrowing from New Latin acarus, from Ancient Greek ἀκαρί (akarí, “cheese mite, tick”).

der

water strongly boiled; wherein the Seeds are extinguished by fire and decoction, and therefore last long and pure without such alteration, affording neither uliginous coats, gnatworms, Acari, hairworms, like crude and common water

1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society, published 2007, page 205:

The number of Acari found in raw sugar is sometimes exceedingly great, and in no instance is the article quite free from either the insects or their ova (eggs).

1868, Robert Niccol, The Sugar Insect, "Acarus Sacchari", Found in Raw Sugar, page 4:

2003, G. Leigheb, Mite bites, Andreas D. Katsambas, European Handbook of Dermatological Treatments, Springer, page 342,
Besides the acarus of human scabies (Sarcoptes scabiei hominis) (0.3-0.5 mm), many other acari which are parasitic on animals or which infest various plant species, foods, organic waste or soil may occasionally attack man (facultative parasitism vs. obligatory parasitism in the case of scabies).

(zoology, acarology) Any member of the subclass Acari (aka Acarina): thus, a mite or a tick; specifically, any mite of the genus Acarus.


transvestite

Borrowed from Latin trāns + vestītus, form of vestiō (“I clothe, I dress”) (as in English vestment, vest). Literally, a "cross-dresser". From transvestitism, from German Transvestitismus, coined in 1910 by Magnus Hirschfeld (the practice itself is much older).

"Proper" scorpion fly behavior entails the catching of an edible insect by the male, who then offers it to the female […] If she likes the gift, she mates with the male. Thornhill, however, has observed males approaching other males, assuming the female role until they get a grip on the food. Once they have it, they try to run away with it. The "transvestite" males, according to Thornhill, have an advantage over the other males because they have others do the hunting for them, leaving the "transvestites" more time to reproduce. In additon ^([sic]), the "transvestite" scorpion flies would avoid such hazards of the hunt as spider webs.

1979 August 18, “Get A Grip On The Food”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 5, page 2:

(zoology, dated) An animal that engages in sexual mimicry.


mammal

From Modern Latin Mammalia, coined 1758 by Linnaeus for the class of mammals, from neuter plural of Late Latin mammalis (“of the breast”), from Latin mamma (“breast”), perhaps cognate with mamma (mother).

(zoology) Characterized by being warm-blooded, having hair or fur and producing milk with which to feed its young.


wall

From Middle English wal, from Old English weall (“wall, dike, earthwork, rampart, dam, rocky shore, cliff”), from Proto-West Germanic *wall (“wall, rampart, entrenchment”), from Latin vallum (“wall, rampart, entrenchment, palisade”), from Proto-Indo-European *welH- (“to turn, wind, roll”).
Perhaps conflated with waw (“a wall within a house or dwelling, a room partition”), from Middle English wawe, from Old English wāg, wāh (“an interior wall, divider”), see waw.
Cognate with North Frisian wal (“wall”), Saterland Frisian Waal (“wall, rampart, mound”), Dutch wal (“wall, rampart, embankment”), German Wall (“rampart, mound, embankment”), Swedish vall (“mound, wall, bank”). More at wallow, walk.

cog

the apples on the other side of the wall are the sweetest

throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick

throw things at the wall and see what sticks

There is definitely some sort of lump on the back wall of my throat (right side).

1982 April 24, Matthew Ross, “Personal advertisement”, in Gay Community News, page 15:

The epidermal cells of the capsule wall of Jubulopsis, with nodose "trigones" at the angles, are very reminiscent of what one finds in Frullania spp.

1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, pages 4-5:

(anatomy, zoology, botany) A dividing or containing structure in an organ or cavity.

պատ

anatomy, zoology, botany: divisive or containing structure


abominable snowman

en-noun

abominable snowman (plural abominable snowmen)

First attested in 1921. Calque of Tibetan མི་སྡུག་གངས་མི (mi sdug gangs mi), from མི་སྡུག (mi sdug, “repulsive, unlovely, ugly, hideous”) and གངས་མི (gangs mi, “snowman”).

calque

མི་སྡུག་གངས་མི

The Abominable Snowman – existing and not existing, flickering at the edges of blizzards, apelike man or manlike ape, stealthy, elusive, known only through rumours and through its backward-pointing footprints.

2003, Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake, Virago Press (2013), page 8:

(cryptozoology, often capitalized) A humanoid or apelike animal said to exist in the Himalayas.


yeti

→ Portuguese: iéti

Borrowed from Tibetan གཡའ་དྲེད (g.ya' dred, “rock bear”), compound of གཡའ (g.ya', “rocky or rocky place”) and དྲེད (dred, “bear”).

bor+

There is no doubt that the Sherpas accept the fact that the Yeti really exists. But then they believe just as confidently that their gods live in comfort on the summit of Mount Everest. We found it quite impossible to divorce the Yeti from the supernatural.

1962, Edmund Hillary, Desmond Doig, “Into the Mingbo Valley”, in High in the Thin Cold Air: The Story of the Himalayan Expedition, led by Sir Edmund Hillary, sponsored by World Book Encyclopedia, Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 131:

(cryptozoology) An unidentified humanoid animal said to live in the Himalayas.


Bigfoot

August/September 1958, originally Big Foot, big + foot, relating to the large size of its supposed footprints relative to human footprints.

Big Foot (alternative)
bigfoot (alternative)

This imprint was made either Wednesday night or early Thursday morning by "Big Foot".

[1958 October 6, Andrew Genzoli, “Huge Foot Prints Hold Mystery Of Friendly Bluff Creek Giant”, in Humboldt Times, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2010-06-11:

Stories of “Bigfoot,” an eight-foot denizen of the forest in Northern California’s wild Trinity County, are among the main topics of conversation in that area. He is supposedly an Indian or half-breed who has reverted to an animal existence. A footprint believed to be his was measured by a Redding shoe store owner and found to be size 24!

1961 July 1, “Big deal”, in Boot and Shoe Recorder, volume 160, number 3, Philadelphia, Pa.: Chilton Company, →OCLC, The Last Word, page 68, column 3:

Some Earth people believe Bigfoot lives in underground caves; others believe Bigfoot is connected with extraterrestrials; still others believe Bigfoot is a spirit that can sometimes manifest in form.

1994, Sun Bear, Wabun Wind, Shawnodese, “A Dream Language of the Earth”, in Dreaming with the Wheel: How to Interpret and Work with your Dreams Using the Medicine Wheel, Fireside, →ISBN, page 145:

Then there are the sharp divisions of opinion about whether Bigfoot is a Gigantopithecus or a Neanderthal or some other hominid.

2016, Bryan Sykes, “The Guru”, in Bigfoot, Yeti, and the Last Neanderthal: A Geneticist’s Search for Modern Apemen, Disinformation Books, →ISBN, part II, page 173:

Many enthusiasts believe that Bigfoot is not some sort of undiscovered hominid, but rather a mystical being that moves between dimensions.

2019, Christopher D. Bader, Joseph O. Baker, “Bigfoot: Undiscovered Primate or Interdimensional Spirit?”, in Deviance Management: Insiders, Outsiders, Hiders, and Drifters, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 77:

(cryptozoology, folklore) A very large, hairy, humanoid creature, similar to the yeti, said to live in the wilderness areas of the United States and Canada, especially the Pacific Northwest.

بيغ فوت

unidentified yeti-like animal (individual creature)


Bigfoot

en-noun

Bigfoot (plural Bigfoot or Bigfeet or Bigfoots)

Bigfoot (plural)
Bigfeet (plural)
Bigfoots (plural)
Big Foot (alternative)
bigfoot (alternative)

My answer to those who believe that all Bigfoot are just huge cuddly Ewoks is to remind them that there is plenty of evidence that every member of the great apes family […] has exhibited hostility […].

2007, Matthew Scott Hansen, The Shadowkiller: A Novel, page 434:

The striking news on the appearance of a Bigfoot on Taibai Mountain in Xi'an, Shaanxi Provnice^([sic – meaning Province]) recently spread among local residents of Mei County located near the foot of Taibai Mountain. Is Taibai Mountain really home to a Bigfoot?
Who encountered the Bigfoot on Taibai Mountain?
Reporters interviewed many residents of Mei County, and their accounts varied.

2010 October 15, “Bigfoot sighted on Taibai Mountain”, in 叶欣, editor, People's Daily, archived from the original on 2015-05-23:

(cryptozoology, folklore) An individual creature of this type.


sasquatch

sasquatches (plural)
Sasquatch (alternative)

Borrowed from Halkomelem sásq’ets (“hairy man”).

bor+

(cryptozoology) A large hairy humanoid creature of western North America.


yowie

Borrowed from Gamilaraay yuwi (“dream spirit”).

The white population claimed that an escaped panther from a travelling circus was the culprit; others thought that a Yowie was responsible.

1986, Bruce Pascoe, “The Slaughters of the Bulumwaal Butcher”, in Anita Heiss, Peter Minter, editors, Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin, published 2008, page 101:

(Australia, cryptozoology) An ape-like monster or animal said to exist in parts of eastern Australia.


mental

c. 1727, from Latin mentum (“the chin”) + -al.

Audio (US)

(zootomy) A plate or scale covering the mentum or chin of a fish or reptile.


morph

Back-formation from morphism. Attested since the 1950s. See also morphology.

Briefly, the yellow morphic males can change their status from paired to satellite and from satellite to the paired one. However, they cannot cross into the status of the red morph.

2010, T.J. Pandian, Sexuality in Fishes, page 51:

(zoology) A variety of a species, distinguishable from other individuals of the species by morphology or behaviour.


regular

en-adj

regular (comparative more regular, superlative most regular)

more regular (comparative)
most regular (superlative)
reg'lar (alternative)
reg (alternative)
reg. (alternative)

/ˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/

[ˈɹɛɡ.jɪ̈.lɚ]

From Middle English reguler, from Anglo-Norman reguler, Middle French reguler, regulier, and their source, Latin rēgulāris (“continuing rules for guidance”), from rēgula (“rule”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *reg- (“move in a straight line”).

register

not etymologically related but has semantic associations

a regular flower; a regular sea urchin

(botany, zoology) Having all the parts of the same kind alike in size and shape.

säännöllinen

botany, zoology: having all the parts of the same kind alike in size and shape


mill

en-verb

mill (third-person singular simple present mills, present participle milling, simple past and past participle milled)

mills (present singular third-person)
milling (participle present)
milled (participle past)
milled (past)

From Middle English mylne, mille, from Old English mylen, from Proto-West Germanic *mulīnu (“mill”), from Late Latin molīna, molīnum, molīnus (“mill”), from Latin molō (“grind, mill”, verb), closely allied to Proto-Germanic *muljaną (“to crush, grind”) (see English millstone). Perhaps cognate with Milne (a surname). Doublet of moline, moulin, and blin.

cog

l-vocalizing: UK, General Australian, New Zealand

(zoology, of air-breathing creatures) To swim underwater.

(zoology, of a whale) To swim suddenly in a new direction.


fish

en-noun

fish (countable and uncountable, plural fish or fishes)

Sranan Tongo: fisi

→ Chinook Jargon: pish

→ Finnish: fisu

→ Zulu: ufishi

From Middle English fisch, from Old English fisċ (“fish”), from Proto-West Germanic *fisk, from Proto-Germanic *fiskaz (“fish”) (compare West Frisian fisk, Dutch vis, German Fisch, Danish fisk, Norwegian fisk, Swedish fisk, Icelandic fiskur), from Proto-Indo-European *peysk- (“fish”) (compare Irish iasc, Latin piscis).

a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle

a woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle

give a man a fish and you feed him for a day

teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

neither fish, flesh, nor good red herring

neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring

the cat would eat fish but would not wet her feet

what does that have to do with the price of fish

(zoology) A paraphyletic grouping of the following taxonomic groups:

A jawless fish (paraphyletic infraphylum Agnatha).

A cartilaginous fish (class Chondrichthyes).

aquatic cold-blooded vertabrae with gills

A bony fish (clade Osteichthyes), including tetrapods.

A placoderm (paraphyletic class †Placodermi).

A spiny shark (paraphyletic class †Acanthodii)


wing

wing (countable and uncountable, plural wings)

wings (plural)
weng (alternative obsolete)
whing (alternative obsolete)
wyng (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English winge, wenge, from Old Norse vængr ("wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare vængi (“ship's cabin”)), from Proto-Germanic *wēingijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂weh₁- (“to blow”), thus related to wind. Cognate with Danish vinge (“wing”), Swedish vinge (“wing”), Icelandic vængur (“wing”).
Replaced native Middle English fither (from Old English fiþre, from Proto-Germanic *fiþriją), which merged with Middle English fether (from Old English feþer, from Proto-Germanic *feþrō). More at feather.

gl

"wing of a flying animal, wing of a building"; compare <i class="Latn mention" lang="non">vængi</i> (“ship's cabin”)

der

The bird was flapping its wings

(zootomy) An appendage of an animal's (bird, bat, insect) body that enables it to fly.


finger

Sranan Tongo: finga

PIE word
 *pénkʷe
From Middle English fynger, finger, from Old English finger (“finger”), from Proto-West Germanic *fingr, from Proto-Germanic *fingraz (“finger”), from Proto-Indo-European *penkʷrós, from *pénkʷe (“five”). Compare West Frisian finger, Low German/German Finger, Dutch vinger, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish finger; also Old Armenian հինգեր-որդ (hinger-ord, “fifth”). More at five.

sormi

something similar in function to a finger

(zoology) Similar or similar-looking extremities in other animals, particularly:

The lower, smaller segment of an arthropod claw.

One of the supporting structures of wings in birds, bats, etc. evolved from earlier toes or fingers.

One of the slender bony structures before the pectoral fins of gurnards and sea robins (Triglidae).

The starfish eats with five fingers.

1915, Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson, “The How and Why Library”, in Life, Section VIII:


rat

From Middle English ratte, rat, rotte, from Old English rætt, from Proto-West Germanic *ratt, from Proto-Germanic *rattaz, *rattō (compare West Frisian rôt, Dutch rat), of uncertain origin, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”). However, the rat may have been unknown in Northern Europe in antiquity, and the Proto-Germanic word may have referred to a different animal; see *rattaz for more. Attestation of this family of words begins in the 12th century.
Some of the Germanic cognates show considerable consonant variation, e.g. Middle Low German ratte, radde; Middle High German rate, ratte, ratze. The irregularity may be symptomatic of a late dispersal of the word, although Kroonen accounts for it with a Proto-Germanic stem *raþō nom., *ruttaz gen., showing both ablaut and a Kluge's law alternation, with the variation arising from varying remodellings in the descendants. Kroonen states that this requires a Proto-Indo-European etymon in final *t and is incompatible with the usual derivation from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d- (“to scrape, scratch, gnaw”).

der

Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.

2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200:

(zoology) A medium-sized rodent belonging to the genus Rattus.


turtle

Modification of Middle English tortou, tortu, from Old French tortüe (under the influence of Middle English turtel, turtur (“turtledove”), see Etymology 2 below), from Medieval Latin tortuca (compare Spanish tortuga), the same source of tortoise (see there for more). Displaced native Old English byrdling.

(zoology, US, Canada) Any land or marine reptile of the order Testudines, characterised by a protective shell enclosing its body. See also tortoise.

(zoology, Australia, British, specifically) A marine reptile of that order.


pen

From Middle English penne, from Anglo-Norman penne, from Old French penne, from Latin penna (“feather”), from Proto-Indo-European *péth₂r̥ ~ pth₂én- (“feather, wing”), from *peth₂- (“to rush, fly”) (from which petition). Proto-Indo-European base also root of *petra-, from which Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “wing”) (whence pterodactyl), Sanskrit पत्रम् (patram, “wing, feather”), Old Church Slavonic перо (pero, “pen”), Old Norse fjǫðr, Old English feðer (Modern English feather); note the /p/ → /f/ Germanic sound change.
Doublet of panne, penna, and pinna. See feather and πέτομαι (pétomai) for more.

cog

you don't dip your pen in the company inkwell

you don't dip your pen in the company's ink

A pen is nothing more complex than a decalcified shell, so one mutation of the genes that controlled calcification could be all it took.

2017, Danna Staaf, Squid Empire, ForeEdge, →ISBN, page 117:

(zoology) The internal cartilage skeleton of a squid, shaped like a pen.


salmon

en-noun

salmon (countable and uncountable, plural salmon or salmons)

→ Burmese: ဆယ်လမွန် (hcaila.mwan)

→ Hebrew: סַלְמוֹן (sálmon)

→ Hindi: सामन (sāman)

→ Japanese: サーモン (sāmon)

→ Maori: hāmana

From Middle English samoun, samon, saumon, from Anglo-Norman saumon, from Old French saumon, from Latin salmō, salmōn-. Widely displaced native Middle English lax, from Old English leax (whence modern dialectal lax). The unpronounced l was later inserted to make the word appear closer to its Latin root (compare words like debt, indict, receipt for the same spelling Latinizations).
The verb sense “ride a bicycle the wrong way down a one-way street” alludes to salmon swimming upstream against the flow of a river to spawn.

m-g

grilled salmon

salmon paté

salmon steak

(zoology) One of several species of fish, typically of the Salmoninae subfamily, brownish above with silvery sides and delicate pinkish-orange flesh; they ascend rivers to spawn.


helicopter

→ Amharic: ሄሊኮፕተር (helikoptär)

Bislama: helikopta

→ Cebuano: helikopter

→ Malay: helikopter

→ Tagalog: helikopter

Tok Pisin: helikopta

/ˈhɛlɪˌkɑptɜɹ/

Borrowed from French hélicoptère, from Ancient Greek ἕλιξ (hélix, “spiral”) + πτερόν (pterón, “wing”). Doublet of helicopteron. By surface analysis, helico- + -pter. The dragonfly sense is from a dragonfly's ability to hover and fly in any direction, like the flying machine.

af

(zoology, slang) A dragonfly; so named due to its resemblance to a helicopter (sense 1).


ray

Via Middle English, borrowed from Old French rai, from Latin radius (“staff, stake, spoke”). Doublet of radius.

(zoology) A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.

(zoology) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.


egg

en-noun

egg (countable and uncountable, plural eggs)

→⇒ German: not the yellow from the egg

Jamaican Creole: eg

Sranan Tongo: eksi

The noun is derived from Middle English eg, egg, egge (“egg of a domestic or wild fowl; egg of a snake”) [and other forms] (originally Northern England and Northeast Midlands), from Old Norse egg (“egg”), from Proto-Germanic *ajją (“egg”) (by Holtzmann’s law), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ōwyóm (“egg”), probably from *h₂éwis (“bird”), from *h₂ew- (“to clothe oneself, dress; to be dressed”) (in the sense of an animal clothed in feathers). Doublet of huevo, oeuf, and ovum.
The native English ey [and other forms] (plural eyren) (obsolete), from Old English ǣġ, is also derived from Proto-Germanic *ajją. It survived into at least c. 16th century before being fully displaced by egg.
The verb is derived from the noun.

ou

thing which looks like or is shaped like an egg

egg

person regarded as having not yet realized they are transgender, or who has not yet come out as transgender or is in the early stages of transitioning; one’s lack of awareness that one is transgender

kill the goose that lays the golden eggs

there's more than one way to cook an egg

there's more than one way to crack an egg

We made a big omelette with three eggs.

I should determine the minimal amount of egg required to make good mayonnaise.

The farmer offered me some fresh eggs, but I told him I was allergic to egg.

There after the images and reliques were orderly disposed, the great Priest compassed about with divers pictures according to the fashion of the Ægyptians, did dedicate and consecrate with certaine prayers a fair ship made very cunningly, and purified the same with a torch, an egge, and sulphur; […]

1566, Apuleius, “The Eleventh Booke”, in William Adlington, transl., The Golden Ass of Apuleius Translated out of Latin […], London: David Nutt […], published 1893, →OCLC, page 239:

[T]hey are vp already, and cal for Egges and butter, they vvil avvay preſently.

c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

I was 5 moneth in France before I saw a boyled or roasted egge.

1665–1667, John Lauder; Lord Fountainhall, “Journal in France 1665–1667”, in Donald Crawford, editor, Journals of Sir John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall, with His Observations on Public Affairs and Other Memoranda 1665–1676 […] (Publications of the Scottish History Society; XXXVI), Edinburgh: […] University Press by T[homas] and A[rchibald] Constable for the Scottish History Society, published May 1900, →OCLC, page 52:

Eggs are perhaps the higheſt, moſt nouriſhing and exalted of all animal Food, and moſt indigeſtible, becauſe no body can take and digeſt the ſame Quantity of them as of other Food.

1732, John Arbuthnot, “Practical Rules of Diet in the Various Constitutions and Diseases of Human Bodies. Chapter I. Of the Different Qualities and Effects of Alimentary Substances. 4. Anti-acid, or Contrary to Acidity or Sourness.”, in An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, page 255:

A round, black, shining face is hers, so glossy as to suggest the idea that she might have washed over with white of eggs, like one of her own tea rusks.

1851 June – 1852 April, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “An Evening in Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, in Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life among the Lowly, volume I, Boston, Mass.: John P[unchard] Jewett & Company; Cleveland, Oh.: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington, published 20 March 1852, →OCLC, page 39:

An approximately spherical or ellipsoidal body produced by birds, insects, reptiles, and other animals, housing the embryo within a membrane or shell during its development.

(specifically, countable) The edible egg (sense 1.1) of a domestic fowl such as a duck, goose, or, especially, a chicken; (uncountable) the contents of such an egg or eggs used as food.

кӏвтӏагъь

edible egg of a domestic fowl; the contents of such an egg or eggs used as food

(by extension, countable) A food item shaped to resemble an egg (sense 1.1.1), such as a chocolate egg.

The Eſtrich (whoſe fethers are fayrer thẽ yᵉ wynges of the ſparow hauke) whẽ he hath layd his egges vpon the grounde, he bredeth them in the duſt, and forgetteth them: ſo that they might be troden with feete, or broken with ſomme wilde beaſt.

1535 October 14 (Gregorian calendar), Myles Coverdale, transl., Biblia: The Byble, […] (Coverdale Bible), [Cologne or Marburg]: [Eucharius Cervicornus and Johannes Soter?], →OCLC, Job xxxix:[13–15], folio xi, recto, column 2:

[T]hinke him as a Serpents egge, / VVhich hatch'd, vvould as his kinde grovv mischieuous; / And kill him in the ſhell.

1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 114, column 1:

An egg properly is that, out of a part vvhereof a living creature is produced, and the reſidue is meat for it, improperly that is an egg out of the vvhole vvhereof, a living creature is bred, as the eggs of Spiders, Ants, Flies.

1657, Samuel Purchas, “Of the Generation of Bees”, in A Theatre of Politicall Flying-Insects. […], London: […] R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst, […], →OCLC, pages 47–48:

[T]here is one claſs of quadrupeds that ſeems entirely left to chance, […] Theſe are the quadrupeds that are brought forth from the egg, ſuch as the lizard, the tortoiſe, and the crocodile. […] [T]he numerous brood of eggs are, vvithout farther ſolicitude, buried in the vvarm ſands of the ſhore, and the heat of the ſun alone is left to bring them to perfection.

1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of Quadrupeds in General, Compared to Man”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume II, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, pages 311–312:

The egg is, as we have said, a kind of exposed uterus, and place in which the embryo is fashioned: for it performs the office of the uterus and enfolds the chick until the due time of its exclusion arrive, when the creature is born perfect.

1847, William Harvey, “Anatomical Exercises on the Generation of Animals; to which are Added, Essays on Parturition; on the Membranes, and Fluids of the Uterus; and on Conception. [On Animal Generation. Exercise the Twenty-third: Of the Exclusion of the Chick, or the Birth from the Egg.]”, in Robert Willis, transl., The Works of William Harvey, M.D., London: […] Sydenham Society, →OCLC, page 264:

In the Fall into the division of labor, [Claude] Lévi-Strauss sees the great hunters trading women to create the exogamous bonds of one hunting band with another. The egg is, but the sperm does. The tiny sperm may be furious in its activity, but its highway to the egg is paved by the alkaline trail set down by the Great Mother.

1981, William Irwin Thompson, “Hominization”, in The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture (A Lindisfarne Series Book), New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, part 2 (The Transformations of Prehistory), page 80:

Although they serve the same function across the plant, animal and fungal kingdoms, sperm and eggs vary wildly in their structure and biochemistry, even among closely related species. […] Many genes that determine sperm and egg structure and biochemistry are rapidly evolving, constantly changing the chemical environment necessary for the sperm to bind to the egg.

2013 May-June, Katrina G. Claw, “Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, New Haven, Conn.: Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, →DOI, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-04-22, abstract, page 210:

(also cytology) Synonym of ovum (“the female gamete of an animal”); an egg cell.


polycystine

en-adj

polycystine (comparative more polycystine, superlative most polycystine)

more polycystine (comparative)
most polycystine (superlative)

(zoology) Pertaining to the Polycystina.


tooth

Wales (usually), Midlands (especially Birmingham)

From Middle English tothe, toth, tooth, from Old English tōþ (“tooth”), from Proto-West Germanic *tanþ, from Proto-Germanic *tanþs (“tooth”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃dónts (“tooth”). Related to tusk. Doublet of dent, dens, tind, and tine.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots tuth, tuith (“tooth”), North Frisian toth, tos (“tooth”), Dutch tand (“tooth”), Low German Tähn (“tooth”), German Zahn (“tooth”), Danish tand (“tooth”), Swedish tand (“tooth”), Norwegian tann (“tooth”), Icelandic tönn (“tooth”), Welsh dant (“tooth”), Latin dēns (“tooth”), Lithuanian danti̇̀s (“tooth”), Ancient Greek ὀδούς (odoús)/ὀδών (odṓn, “tooth”), Armenian ատամ (atam), Persian دندان (dandân), Sanskrit दत् (dát), दन्त (danta, “tooth”).

Species XXXVI. Obliquaria bullata— (Unio bullata) […] Found at the falls of Ohio; rare; breadth almost two inches; cardinal and lamellar teeth like preceding species; apices rounded, decorticated, but not truncated

1832, Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, A monograph of the fluviatile bivalve shells of the river Ohio, page 43:

(zoology) A projection or point in other parts of the body resembling the tooth of a vertebrate animal.


hair

en-noun

hair (countable and uncountable, plural hairs)

From Middle English her, heer, hær, from Old English hǣr, from Proto-West Germanic *hār, from Proto-Germanic *hērą (“hair”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Hier (“hair”), West Frisian hier (“hair”), Dutch haar (“hair”), German Low German Haar (“hair”), German Haar (“hair”), Swedish, Danish and Norwegian hår (“hair”), Icelandic hár (“hair”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English cheveler, chevelere (“hair”), borrowed from Old French chevelëure (“hair, head-hair, coiffure, wig”).
The modern spelling with ai is not a regular representation of the vowel developed from Middle English. Rather, it is from Middle English here (haircloth) influenced by Old French haire.

noncog

one hair of a woman can draw more than a hundred pair of oxen

(zoology, countable) A slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Such hairs are totally unlike those of vertebrates in structure, composition, and mode of growth.

karva

zoology: slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of invertebrates


slug

Nicoline van der Sijs
Slug (disambiguation)

Originally referred to a slow, lazy person, from Middle English slugge (“lazy person", also "sloth, slothfulness”), probably of either Old English or Old Norse origin; compare Norn slug (“lazy, slothful, sluggish”), dialectal Norwegian slugg (“a large, heavy body”), sluggje (“heavy, slow person”), Danish slog (“rascal, rogue”); perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sliǵ-ōn, from *sley- (“smooth; slick; sticky; slimy”) or otherwise from the root of Old Norse slókr (“lazy person, oaf”), whence Icelandic slókur (“laziness”). Compare also Dutch slak (“snail, slug”). Doublet of slotch.

inh

(herpetology) An infertile egg of a reptile.


hammerhead

(zoology) Any organism with head shaped like that of a hammer:

Any shark of the family Sphyrnidae, which only includes the genera Sphyrna and Zygaena, with eyes set on projections from the sides of the head.

A hogsucker, a fresh-water fish of species Hypentelium nigricans, in the sucker family Catostomidae.

A hammer-headed fruit bat, a fruit bat of species Hypsignathus monstrosus, with a large blunt nozzle.

Scopus umbretta
Scopus umbretta#Translingual

A hammerkop, a bird of species Scopus umbretta.


down

en-adj

down (comparative more down, superlative most down)

tlb

(chiefly predicative, but see usage notes)

more down (comparative)
most down (superlative)

From Middle English doun, doune, from Old English dūne (“down”), aphetic form of adūne (“down, downward”), from earlier ofdūne (“down”, literally “off the hill”), from of (“of, off of”) + dūn (“hill, mount, dune, down”). More at Etymology 2 below. For the development from directional phrases to prepositions, compare Middle Low German dāle (“down, downwards”, literally “(in/to the) dale/valley”), whence German Low German dal (“down”). Compare also Saterland Frisian deel (“down”, literally “to/into the dale”).

ncog

a down cow

(veterinary medicine, of a cow) Stranded in a recumbent position; unable to stand.


festoon

(acarology) Any of a series of wrinkles on the backs of some ticks.


tribe

PIE word
 *tréyes
From Middle English tribe, tribu, from Old French tribu, from Latin tribus. Doublet of tribus.

(zoology) A group of apes who live and work together.


acanthopteri

Via translingual Acanthopteri, from Ancient Greek ἄκανθα (ákantha, “thorn”) + πτερόν (pterón, “feather”).

(zoology) A group of teleostean fishes having spiny fins. See Acanthopterygii.


fly

From Middle English flye, flie, from Old English flȳġe, flēoge (“a fly”), from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ (“a fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly”). Cognate with Scots flee, Saterland Frisian Fljooge, Dutch vlieg, German Low German Fleeg, German Fliege, Danish flue, Norwegian Bokmål flue, Norwegian Nynorsk fluge, Swedish fluga, Icelandic fluga.

you attract more flies with honey than vinegar

you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar

you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

you catch more flies with honey than vinegar

you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar

Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.

2012 January 7, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 46:

en:true fly, any insect of order Diptera

(zoology) Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies.


polygamy

en-noun

polygamy (countable and uncountable, plural polygamies)

Recorded since 1591, from Late Latin polygamia, from Ancient Greek πολυγαμία (polugamía), itself from πολύγαμος (polúgamos, “married to many”), from πολύς (polús, “many”) + γάμος (gámos, “marriage”). Relates to modern prefix and suffix poly- + -gamy.

An insect queen actually practices polygamy only one day, while for an alpha-male defending his harem is the very essence of both his status and polygamy.

(zoology) The state or habit of having more than one sexual mate.

polygamie

zoology: the state or habit of having more than one mate


oar

non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger

From Middle English ore (“oar”), from Old English ār, from Proto-West Germanic *airu, from Proto-Germanic *airō (“oar”). Cognate with Old Norse ár.

(zoology) An oar-like swimming organ of various invertebrates.


polyeidic

From poly- + Ancient Greek εἶδος (eîdos, “form”) + -ic.

(zoology) Passing through several distinct larval forms; having several distinct kinds of young.


pinnate

en-adj

pinnate (comparative more pinnate, superlative most pinnate)

more pinnate (comparative)
most pinnate (superlative)

From Latin pinnātus (“feathered”), from pinna (“feather”).

the pinnate grouse, or prairie chicken

(zoology) Having a winglike tuft of long feathers on each side of the neck.

криловиден

having a winglike tuft of long feathers on each side of the neck


brush

en-noun

brush (countable and uncountable, plural brushes)

From Middle English brusshe, from Old French broisse (Modern French brosse), from Vulgar Latin *brustia, from Frankish *bursti, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz (“bristle”), or also Vulgar Latin *bruscia, from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz (“tuft, thicket, underbrush”), which could be from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrusgo-.

der

(zoology) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.


simple

en-adj

simple (comparative simpler or more simple, superlative simplest or most simple)

simpler (comparative)
more simple (comparative)
simplest (superlative)
most simple (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English symple, simple, from Old French and French simple, from Latin simplex (“simple”, literally “onefold”) (as opposed to duplex (“double”, literally “twofold”)), from semel (“the same”) + plicō (“I fold”). See same and fold. Compare single, singular, simultaneous, etc.
Partially displaced native English onefold.

der

a simple ascidian

(heading, technical) Structurally uncomplicated.

(zoology) Consisting of a single individual or zooid; not compound.


button

→ German: Button

→ Hindi: बटन (baṭan)

→ Gujarati: બટન (baṭan)

→ Korean: 버튼 (beoteun)

→ Maori: pātene

→ Marathi: बटण (baṭaṇ)

→ Urdu: بَٹَن (baṭan)

From Middle English boton, botoun, from Old French boton (Modern French bouton), from Old French bouter, boter (“to push; thrust”), ultimately from a Germanic language. Doublet of Biden and beat. More at butt.

(zoology) Pedicle; the attachment point for antlers in cervids.


gregarious

en-adj

gregarious (comparative more gregarious, superlative most gregarious)

more gregarious (comparative)
most gregarious (superlative)

/ɡɹɪˈɡɛə.ɹɪ.əs/

/ɡɹɪˈɡɛɚ.i.əs/

The Fin-Back is not gregarious. He seems a whale-hater, as some men are man-haters.

1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 32, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 151:

Rabbits are lively at nightfall, and when evening rain drives them underground they still feel gregarious.

(zoology) Of animals that travel in herds or packs.


throw

en-verb

throw (third-person singular simple present throws, present participle throwing, simple past threw or (nonstandard) throwed, past participle thrown or (nonstandard) throwed or (nonstandard) threw)

throws (present singular third-person)
throwing (participle present)
threw (past)
throwed (nonstandard past)
thrown (participle past)
throwed (nonstandard participle past)
threw (nonstandard participle past)
throw (infinitive)
throw (first-person present singular)
threw (first-person past singular)
throw (present second-person singular)
throwest (archaic present second-person singular)
threw (past second-person singular)
threwst (archaic past second-person singular)
throws (present singular third-person)
throweth (archaic present singular third-person)
threw (past singular third-person)
throw (plural present)
threw (past plural)
throw (present subjunctive)
threw (past subjunctive)
throw (imperative present)
throwing (participle present)
thrown (participle past)
thrun (dialectal participle past)

From Middle English throwen, thrawen, from Old English þrāwan (“to turn, twist”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrāan, from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną (“to twist, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn”).
Cognate with Scots thraw (“to twist, turn, throw”), West Frisian triuwe (“to push”), Dutch draaien (“to turn”), Low German draien, dreien (“to turn (in a lathe)”), German drehen (“to turn”).
Displaced warp as the word for hurling and was displaced by warp as the word for twisting.

der

dip me in chocolate and throw me to the lesbians

people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones

throw enough mud at the wall and some of it will stick

throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick

throw nickels around like manhole covers

throw oneself on someone's mercy not have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of

throw one's hotdog down someone's hallway

throw things at the wall and see what sticks

trust someone as far as one could throw them

At the end of the normal gestation period the cow threw two calf mummies as large as cats.

1916, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, volume 49:

They can kid twice a year if things are right, and they often throw twins and triplets.

2008, Monte Dwyer, Red In The Centre: The Australian Bush Through Urban Eyes, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 200:

(transitive, veterinary medicine) Of animals: to give birth to (young).


acorn

From Middle English acorn, an alteration (after corn) of earlier *akern, from Old English æcern (“acorn, oak-mast”), from Proto-West Germanic *akarn, from Proto-Germanic *akraną, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂égrō (“berry”). Cognate with Scots aicorn, Saterland Frisian Äkkene, Tocharian B oko (“fruit”), Welsh eirin (“plums”), Breton irin (“plum”), Irish airne (“sloe”), Lithuanian úoga, Russian я́года (jágoda, “berry”), etc. Not related to Old English āc (“oak”), corn (“corn, seed”) or Middle English acquerne.

even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while

even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then

even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while


penis

From late 17th century. Learned borrowing from Latin pēnis (“tail, penis”), from Proto-Indo-European *pes- (“penis”). Displaced native English pintle (“penis”), tarse (“penis”), pillicock (“penis”), and weapon.

learned borrowing

urogenital fold - embryological precursors

(zoology) A similar erectile sexual organ present in the cloacas of male amniotes.


ram

From Middle English ram, rom, ramme, from Old English ramm (“ram”), from Proto-Germanic *rammaz (“ram”), possibly from *rammaz (“strong”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Rom (“ram”), Dutch ram (“a male sheep”), German Ramm, Ramme (“ram”). Possibly akin also to Danish ram (“sharp; acrid; rank”), Swedish ram (“strong; perfect”), Faroese ramur (“strong; competent”), Icelandic rammur (“strong; sturdy”).

(zoology, agriculture) A male sheep, typically uncastrated.


plate

→ Maori: pereti

→ Hindi: प्लेट (pleṭ)

From Middle English plate, from Old French plate, from Medieval Latin plata, from Vulgar Latin *plat(t)us, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat, wide”). Compare Spanish plato.
(foot): Cockney rhyming slang, from "plates of meat" for "feet".

der

(herpetology) Any of various larger scales found in some reptiles.


orbit

en-noun

orbit (countable and uncountable, plural orbits)

Inherited from Middle English orbite, orbita, from Latin orbita (“course, track, impression, mark”).

គន្លង

kɔɔkŭənlɔɔng

(anatomy) The bony cavity in the skull of a vertebrate containing the eyeball.

(zoology) The area around the eye of a bird or other animal.


vein

veins (plural)
wayn (alternative obsolete)

From Middle English veyne, borrowed from Anglo-Norman veine, from Latin vēna (“a blood-vessel; vein; artery”) of uncertain origin. See vēna for more. Doublet of vena. Displaced native edre, from ǣdre (whence edder).

жи́ла

stripe or streak in stone or other material

(zoology) The nervure of an insect’s wing.


skein

skeins (plural)
skean (alternative obsolete)
skain (alternative obsolete)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-skein.wav

From Middle English skayne, from Old French escaigne (Modern French écagne), probably of Proto-Celtic origin, from Proto-Indo-European *skend- (“to split off”). Compare Irish scáinne (“skein, clew”).

High above the swallows and 2 miles or so out into the Channel was a skein of geese, probably brent geese on the first day of their emigration from the estuaries of the Channel coast towards the high Arctic tundra of Spitsbergen or Russia.

2018, Laurence Rose, The Long Spring, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 111:

(zoology, UK, dialect, collective) A group of wild fowl (e.g. geese, goslings) when they are in flight.


stop

From Middle English stoppen, stoppien, from Old English stoppian (“to stop, close”), from Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn, from Proto-Germanic *stuppōną (“to stop, close”), *stuppijaną (“to push, pierce, prick”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewp-, *(s)tewb- (“to push; stick”), from *(s)tew- (“to bump; impact; butt; push; beat; strike; hit”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian stopje (“to stop, block”), West Frisian stopje (“to stop”), Dutch stoppen (“to stop”), Low German stoppen (“to stop”), German stopfen (“to be filling, stuff”), German stoppen (“to stop”), Danish stoppe (“to stop”), Swedish stoppa (“to stop”), Icelandic stoppa (“to stop”), Middle High German stupfen, stüpfen (“to pierce”). More at stuff, stump.
Alternative etymology derives Proto-West Germanic *stoppōn from an assumed Vulgar Latin *stūpāre, *stuppāre (“to stop up with tow”), from stūpa, stīpa, stuppa (“tow, flax, oakum”), from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē, “tow, flax, oakum”). This derivation, however, is doubtful, as the earliest instances of the Germanic verb do not carry the meaning of "stuff, stop with tow". Rather, these senses developed later in response to influence from similar sounding words in Latin and Romance.

cog

The stop in a bulldog's face is very marked.

(zoology) The depression in a dog’s face between the skull and the nasal bones.


gyre

Borrowed from Latin gȳrus (“circle; circular motion”), from Ancient Greek γῦρος (gûros, “circle; ring”), from Proto-Indo-European *gew- (“to bend; to curve”). The English word is a doublet of gyro and gyrus.

der

(anatomy, zootomy, archaic) Synonym of gyrus (“a fold or ridge on the cerebral cortex of the brain”).


convoluted

en-adj

convoluted (comparative more convoluted, superlative most convoluted)

more convoluted (comparative)
most convoluted (superlative)

[B]y the means of theſe hooks, and Spikes it [a tapeworm in the intestines] might faſten it ſelf, and ſo prevent it's too eaſy ejection out of the body. For it being ſo very long, and large too, and it's body in many places winding, and convoluted, the deſcent of the fæces upon all occaſions would be apt to carry it out with them; had it not this hold, [...]

1683 April 20, Edward Tyson, “Lumbricus Latus, or a Discourse Read before the Royal Society of the Joynted Worm, […]”, in Philosophical Transactions. Giving Some Accompt of the Present Undertakings, Studies and Labours of the Ingenious in Many Considerable Parts of the World, volume XIII, number 146, Oxford: Printed at the Theater, and are to be sold by Moses Pit […], and Samuel Smith […], →OCLC, page 130:

The figure [of the constellation Anguilla] is that of the common eel in that convoluted ſtate in which it is uſually ſeen when in motion.

1754, John Hill, “ANGUILLA, the Eel”, in Urania: Or, A Compleat View of the Heavens; Containing the Antient and Modern Astronomy, in the Form of a Dictionary: […], London: Printed for T. Gardner, […], →OCLC:

Petals five, generally reflected, the three exterior ovate, hollowed; the two interior longer and convoluted.

1822, William P[aul] C[rillon] Barton, “Listera convallarioides”, in A Flora of North America. […], volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea […], →OCLC, page 8:

Among the various fossil shells which abound in the secondary beds, and which are not known in a recent state, one of the most remarkable and numerous is the Genus Ammonites, commonly called Cornu Ammonis from its resemblance to the convoluted horn generally represented on the head of Jupiter Ammon in mythological history. [...] This Genus, which consists of discoid, convoluted, chambered shells with contiguous volutions, the margins of whose septa are lobated and sinuous, and whose siphunculus is dorsal, is very nearly related to Nautilus, [...]

1831 March 31, George Brettingham Sowerby, “Ammonites”, in Number XXXIV. … of the Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells, for the Use of Students in Conchology and Geology, London: G. B. Sowerby, […], →OCLC:

The great mass of cloud filling the head of the gulf had long red smears amongst its convoluted folds of grey and black, as of a floating mantle stained with blood.

1904 January 29 – October 7, Joseph Conrad, chapter VII, in Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, London, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers […], published 1904, →OCLC, part third (The Lighthouse), page 347:

Closer examination, however, begins to reveal the brain as having a much more intricate structure and sophisticated organization [...]. The large convoluted (and most porridge-like) portion on top is referred to as the cerebrum.

1989, Roger Penrose, “Real Brains and Model Brains”, in The Emperor’s New Mind: Concerning Computers, Minds and The Laws of Physics, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN; paperback edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1999, →ISBN, page 483:

Everyone is familiar with the Hollywood cliche of the 'mad scientist' crouching over convoluted glassware in which fuming green liquids bubble away.

1999, “Make Me a Molecule”, in Nina Hall, editor, The Age of the Molecule, London: Royal Society of Chemistry, →ISBN, page 14:

(chiefly anatomy, zoology) Having numerous overlapping coils or folds; convolute.

ոլորապտույտ

having numerous overlapping coils or folds


asteroid

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀστεροειδής (asteroeidḗs), from ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”) + εἶδος (eîdos, “form”). Analyzable as aster- + -oid.

(zoology) Any member of the taxonomic class Asteroidea; a starfish.


hamulus

(zoology) A hooked barbicel of a feather.


mask

Borrowed from Middle French masque (“a covering to hide or protect the face”), from Italian maschera (“mask, disguise”), from (a byform of, see it for more) Medieval Latin masca, mascha, a borrowing of Proto-West Germanic *maskā from which English mesh is regularly inherited.
Replaced Old English grīma (“mask”), whence grime, and displaced non-native Middle English viser (“visor, mask”) borrowed from Old French viser, visier.
Compare also Hebrew מַסֵּכָה (masseiḥa).

蒙版

two-color bitmap used to create transparency in an image

(zoology) The lower lip of the larva of a dragonfly, modified so as to form a prehensile organ.

pyyntinaamari

zoology: lower lip of the larva of a dragon fly


masked

en-adj

masked (comparative more masked, superlative most masked)

more masked (comparative)
most masked (superlative)
masqued (alternative archaic)

(zoology, of birds) Having the anterior part of the head differing decidedly in color from the rest of the plumage.


upeygan

Diceros bicornis
Diceros bicornis#Translingual

(zoology) A borele or two-horned black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis).


neurula

From New Latin neurula, diminutive in -ula of Ancient Greek νεῦρον (neûron, “sinew, tendon, cord”).

der

(zoology) An embryo of vertebrates in the stage when the primitive band is first developed.

Neurula

zoology: an embryo of vertebrates in the state when the primitive band is first developed


ich

Ich is one of the most common diseases of freshwater fish.

1996, Edward J. Noga, Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, Iowa State University Press (2000), →ISBN, page 95:

(ichthyology) Ichthyophthiriasis, a parasitic infection of freshwater fish caused by ciliates of genus Ichthyophthirius.


hapuku

hapukus (plural)
hapuku (plural)
hapuka (alternative)
whapuka (alternative)
whapuku (alternative)

(zoology) A large and valuable food fish, Polyprion oxygeneios, in the family Serranidae of New Zealand.


acaudate

From a- (“without”) + caudate (“having a tail”).


igloo

From Inuktitut ᐃᒡᓗ (iclo, “house, building (of any kind)”), from Proto-Inuit *ǝɣlu, from Proto-Eskimo *ǝŋlu.

hogan

used by the Navajo in the southwestern United States

wetu

used by the Wampanoag in the northeastern United States

wickiup

used in the southwestern and western United States

(zoology) A cavity, or excavation, made in the snow by a seal, over its breathing hole in the sea ice.


polygoneutic

From poly- + Ancient Greek γονεύω (goneúō, “to produce offspring”) + -tic, from γονεύς (goneús, “parent”).

af

(zoology) Having two or more broods in a season.


labour

en-noun

labour (countable and uncountable, plural labours)

term-label

(British spelling, Canadian spelling, Australian spelling, New Zealand spelling)

From Middle English labor, labour, labur, from Old French labor (modern labeur) and its etymon, Latin labor.


memory

en-noun

memory (countable and uncountable, plural memories)

From Anglo-Norman memorie, Old French memoire etc., from Latin memoria (“the faculty of remembering, remembrance, memory, a historical account”), from memor (“mindful, remembering”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (to remember), related to Ancient Greek μνήμη (mnḗmē, “memory”) μέρμερος (mérmeros, “anxious”), μέριμνα (mérimna, “care, thought”), Old English ġemimor (“mindful, remembering”). More at mimmer. Doublet of memoir and memoria. Displaced native Old English ġemynd, which took on a different meaning as modern mind.

cog

(zoology, collective, rare) A term of venery for a social group of elephants, normally called a herd.


ABC

en-noun

ABC (countable and uncountable, plural ABCs)

(cryptozoology) Initialism of alien big cat.


division

division (countable and uncountable, plural divisions)

PIE word
 *dwóh₁
From Middle English divisioun, from Old French division, from Latin dīvīsiō, dīvīsiōnem, noun of process form from perfect passive participle dīvīsus (“divided”), from dīvidō (“divide”). Doublet of divisio.

remainder left over if divisor does not divide dividend

(zoology) An optional rank subordinate to the infraclass and superordinate to the legion and cohort; a taxon at that rank.


syzygy

syzygy (countable and uncountable, plural syzygies)

From Late Latin sȳzygia (“conjunction”), from Ancient Greek συζυγία (suzugía, “union, yoke, pair”). This word was recognized as English in 1847 (in its astronomical meaning).

der

When two or more arm-joints meet transversely by a rigid suture, and only the upper one is pinnule-bearing, those joints form a syzygy, whether their apposed faces are striated, dotted, or smooth.

1900, Karl Alfred von Zittel, Text-book of Paleontology: Protozoa. Coelentrata (zoophytes). Echinodermata. Vermes (Worms). Molluscoidea. Mollusca. Arthropoda (articulates):

These include syzygy, fusion of larvae or adults of flatworms, fusion of buds of some Tunicata, somatic fertilization (fusion of spermatozoa with somatic cells), composite zygotes of some Cestoda and Insecta, and fusion of cells in various tissues.

2018, Richard E. Blackwelder, The Diversity of Animal Reproduction, CRC Press, →ISBN:

(zoology) The association of two protozoa end-to-end or laterally for the purpose of asexual exchange of genetic material.


labyrinth

From Middle English laberynt, laberynthe, from Latin labyrinthus, from Ancient Greek λᾰβύρῐνθος (lăbúrĭnthos, “a maze”).

(anatomy) A tortuous anatomical structure:

(zoology) An accessory respiratory organ of certain fish.


tentacle

From New Latin tentāculum, from tentō. Doublet of tentaculum.

With one blow of the axe, Captain Nemo cut this formidable tentacle, that slid wriggling down the ladder.

1873, Jules Verne, “The “Devil Fish.”—Terrible Encounter.—Crushed to Death in the Arms of a Monster.—Ned Land saved by the Captain.—“Only Revenge”.”, in [anonymous], transl., Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Seas; […], James R. Osgood edition, Boston, Mass.: Geo[rge] M[urray] Smith & Co., →OCLC, part II, page 274:

1897, H. G. Wells, The Crystal Egg
The body was small, but fitted with two bunches of prehensile organs, like long tentacles, immediately under the mouth.

1936, H. P. Lovecraft, The Shadow Out of Time
Surmounting this head were four slender grey stalks bearing flower-like appendages, whilst from its nether side dangled eight greenish antennae or tentacles.

(zoology) An elongated, boneless, flexible organ or limb of some animals, such as the octopus and squid.


NHL

Nenets Herding Laika
Nenets Herding Laika#English

(zoology, cynology) Initialism of Nenets Herding Laika.


sex

en-verb

sex (third-person singular simple present sexes, present participle sexing, simple past and past participle sexed)

sexes (present singular third-person)
sexing (participle present)
sexed (participle past)
sexed (past)
sexe (alternative archaic)
s*x (alternative)

From Middle English sexe (“gender”), from Old French sexe (“genitals; gender”), from Latin sexus (“gender; gender traits; males or females; genitals”), from Proto-Italic *seksus, from Proto-Indo-European *séksus, from *sek- (“to cut, cut off, sever”), thus meaning "section, division" (into male and female).
Usage for women influenced by Middle French le sexe (“women”) (attested in 1580). Usage for third and additional sexes calqued from French troisième sexe, referring to masculine women in 1817 and homosexuals in 1847. First used by Lord Byron and others in English in reference to Catholic clergy. Usage for sexual intercourse first attested in 1899 (in the writings of H. G. Wells).

der

If we sex the cattle, which is the only way to get at their value, we shall have... 400 cows, 200 yearling heifers.

1878 January 19, Spirit of the Times, 659/2:

If, in fact, in L. funebris there is no sex marker on the song elements themselves, then a young bird must be able to sex its tutor. The same is true if the individuals were predisposed to produce the total vocabulary of any population, or of both sexes in their own population, and then under experience had to suppress a sex-specific subset of that repertoire [7]. It seems unrealistic to assume the reverse, that a parent bird can sex by some hidden cues newly hatched sexually monomorphic offspring and direct its own vocabulary to consexual young only.

1996 December 1, W. Wickler, K. Lunau, “How Do East African Bush Shrikes Laniarius funebris Recognize Male and Female Tutors During Gender Dialect Development?”, in Naturwissenschaften, volume 83, →DOI, pages 579b–c:

The ability to sex birds invasively through laparoscopy initially solved that problem, but now it is even easier and less stressful on the birds through testing the DNA of their feathers or blood.

2007, Clive Roots, Domestication, page 75:

Semen usually is sexed at 90% accuracy, and the sexes of calves at birth almost always are in that statistical range if averaged over […]

2013, David J Patterson, Michael T. Smith, Beef Heifer Development, An Issue of Veterinary Clinics: Food Animal Practice,, Elsevier Health Sciences, →ISBN:

(zoology, transitive) To determine the sex of (an animal).


sole

→ Hebrew: סוֹל (sol)

From Middle English sole, soole, from Old English sole, solu. Reinforced by Anglo-Norman sole, Old French sole, from Vulgar Latin *sola (“bottom of the shoe”, also “flatfish”), from Latin solea (“sandal, bottom of the shoe”), from Proto-Indo-European *swol- (“sole”). Cognate with Dutch zool (“sole, tread”), German Sohle (“sole, insole, bottom, floor”), Danish sål (“sole”), Icelandic sóli (“sole, outsole”), Gothic 𐍃𐌿𐌻𐌾𐌰 (sulja, “sandal”). Related to Latin solum (“bottom, ground, soil”). More at soil.
Compare typologically Russian по́чва (póčva) akin to подо́шва (podóšva).

cog

The fishermen crowding in the cafés were also waiting for the end of the storm, when the fish, reassured, would rise to the surface after the bait. Soles, hog fish and skate were returning from their nocturnal expeditions. Day was now breaking.

1952, Nikos Kazantzakis, chapter 1, in Carl Wildman, transl., Zorba the Greek, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, translation of Βίος και πολιτεία του Αλέξη Ζορμπά [Víos kai politeía tou Aléxi Zormpá], →ISBN, page 3:

(zoology) Solea solea, a flatfish of the family Soleidae; a true sole.


bill

From Middle English bill, bil, bille, bile, from Old English bile (“beak (of a bird); trunk (of an elephant)”), of unknown origin. Perhaps from a special use of Old English bil, bill (“hook; sword”) (see below).

inh

The woosel cock so black of hue, With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill[…]

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], line 125:

[…] The flesh [of the mistletoe berry] is sticky, and forms strings and ribbons between my thumb and forefinger. For the mistletoe, this viscous goop – and by the way, viscous comes to English from viscum – is crucial. The stickiness means that, after eating the berries, birds often regurgitate the seeds and then wipe their bills on twigs – leading to the seeds' getting glued to the tree, where they can germinate and begin the cycle anew.

2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, page 7]”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 2014-12-23:

(zootomy) The beak of a bird, especially when small or flattish; sometimes also used with reference to a platypus, turtle, or other animal.


lavaret

en-noun

lavaret (countable and uncountable, plural lavarets)

From French lavaret, from Late Latin levaricinus.

Coregonus lavaretus
Coregonus lavaretus#Translingual

(zoology) A European whitefish Coregonus lavaretus, found in the mountain lakes of Sweden, Germany, and Switzerland, and in the archipelago in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland.


acephal

From Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). Compare French acéphale, Late Latin acephalus.


acephalocyst

From Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”) + κύστις (kústis, “bladder”).

(zoology) A larval entozoön in the form of a subglobular or oval vesicle, or hydatid, filled with fluid, sometimes found in the tissues of man and the lower animals; -- so called from the absence of a head or visible organs on the vesicle. These cysts are the immature stages of certain tapeworms. Also applied to similar cysts of different origin.


acephalous

en-adj

acephalous (comparative more acephalous, superlative most acephalous)

more acephalous (comparative)
most acephalous (superlative)

From French acéphale, from Ancient Greek ἀκέφαλος (aképhalos, “headless”), from ἀ- (a-, “not”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”). By surface analysis, a- + -cephalous.

(zoology, applied to bivalve mollusks) Without a distinct head.


acerous

From Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + κέρας (kéras, “horn”).

an acerous mollusk

an acerous insect


acetabulum

en-noun

acetabulum (plural acetabulums or acetabula)

Learned borrowing from Latin acētābulum (“vinegar saucer, 1/48 congius”), from acētum (“vinegar”) + -bulum (“-bule: a vessel for”).

lbor

(zootomy) The cavity in which the leg of an insect is inserted at its articulation with the body.

acetàbul

(zootomy) A sucker of the sepia or cuttlefish and related animals.

(zootomy) The large posterior sucker of the leeches.

(zootomy) One of the lobes of the placenta in ruminating animals.


mating

The progeny of backcrosses and intercrosses will form some incrosses and some matings of other types.

1981, Henry Foster, The Mouse in Biomedical Research, page 96:

(zoology) Pairing of organisms for copulation.

Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.

2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7:


parachute

Borrowed from French parachute, from para- (“protection against”) (as in parasol) and chute (“fall”).

(zoology) A web or fold of skin extending between the legs of gliding mammals, such as the flying squirrel and colugo.


obtuse

en-adj

obtuse (comparative obtuser or more obtuse, superlative obtusest or most obtuse)

obtuser (comparative)
more obtuse (comparative)
obtusest (superlative)
most obtuse (superlative)

clear

antonym(s) of “deadened, muffled, muted”

pointed

antonym(s) of “now chiefly botany, zoology”

From Middle English obtuse, from Latin obtūsus (“blunt, dull; obtuse”), past participle of obtundere, from obtundō (“to batter, beat, strike; to blunt, dull”), from ob- (“against”) (see ob-) + tundō (“to beat, strike; to bruise, crush, pound”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewd-, from *(s)tew- (“to hit; to push”)). More at obtund.

The Herb Pantagruelion hath a little Root somewhat hard and ruff, roundish, terminating in an obtuse and very blunt Point, and having some of its Veins, Strings or Filaments coloured with some spots of white, […]

1653, Francis Rabelais [i.e., François Rabelais], [Peter Anthony Motteux, transl.], “How Pantagruel Did Put Himself in a Readiness to Go to Sea; and of the Herb Named Pantagruelion”, in The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais Doctor in Physick: Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and His Sonne Pantagruel [...], volume II, London: Navarre Society, published 1921, →OCLC, book III, pages 57–58:

(now chiefly botany, zoology) Blunt; not sharp, pointed, or acute in form.

(botany, zoology) Blunt, or rounded at the extremity.

If you put foure Spleets in a Hiue, then cut their backes, where they must leane one against another, to square angles, such as be foure in a circle: if but three, cut them to obtuse angles, such as are three in a circle: (you may readily try them, before you put them in, by Moulds made iust to those formes) and so will they stand close and firme together.

1623, Charles Butler, “Of the Hiues, and the Dressing of Them”, in The Feminine Monarchie: or, The Historie of Bees: Shewing Their Admirable Nature, and Properties, Their Generation, and Colonies, Their Gouernment, Loyaltie, Art, Industrie, Enemies, Warres, Magnanimitie, &c. […], London, →OCLC, chapter 3, section 11, footnote c; republished Mytholmroyd, U.K.: Northern Bee Books, 1985:

More-over, as the Buildings Ambligon / May more receive then Mansions Oxigon / (Because th' acute, and the rect-Angles too, / Stride not so wide as obtuse Angles doe) / So doth the Circle in his Circuit span / More room then any other Figure can.

1641, “The Columnes. The Fourth Part of the Second Day of the II. Weeke”, in Alexander B. Grosart, editor, The Complete Works of Joshua Sylvester: For the First Time Collected and Edited […], Edinburgh Univ. Press, published 1880, page 156, lines 198–203:

Obtuse angles of the through crossing. — The system of the two obtuse-angled points is especially termed the dead-crossing. […] The point itself, less liable to damage than that of the crossing proper, on account of its obtuse form and its position relatively to the wheels, acts the same part towards the tapered portion of the cut rail, as the wing-rail does with respect to the acute-angle of the crossing.

1877, Ch[arles] Couche, “Special Points in the Permanent Way”, in James N. Shoolbred, transl., Permanent Way Rolling Stock and Technical Working of Railways. Followed by an Appendix on Works of Art, volume I, London: Dulau & Co., 37, Soho Square; Paris: Dunod, 49, Quai des Augustins, →OCLC, § XIV (Rail-crossings), paragraph 258, page 316:

If he is standing close beside me I know that our separate axes of vision will meet at an acute angle in the centre of his object, and if we are further apart, at an obtuser angle.

1922, May Sinclair, “Space, Time and Other Consciousnesses”, in The New Idealism, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, section V, pages 255–256:

(geometry, specifically, of an angle) Larger than one, and smaller than two right angles, or more than 90° and less than 180°.

բութ

geometry: larger than 90° but less than 180°

Unless A lies in that part of a semi-infinite strip bounded by AB outside a semi-circle of diameter AB, the triangle is obtuse, so that the probability of getting an obtuse triangle is equal to 1.

2013, Edward J. Barbeau, “Probability and Statistics”, in More Fallacies, Flaws, and Flimflam (Spectrum Series), Washington, D.C.: Mathematical Association of America, →ISBN, page 128:

(geometry, by ellipsis) Obtuse-angled, having an obtuse angle.

For we see a Feather or a Rush drawn along the Lip or Cheek, doth tickle; whereas a thing more obtuse, or a touch more hard, doth not.

1670, Francis Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [Francis Bacon], “Century VIII”, in Sylva Sylvarum, or, A Natural History, in Ten Centuries: Whereunto is Newly Added, the History Natural and Experimental of [Life] and Death, or of the Prolongation of Life. […], 9th and last edition, London: William Rawley, →OCLC, paragraph 766, page 161:

See then the quiver broken and decay'd, / In which are kept our arrows! Rusting there / In wild disorder, and unfit for use, / […] Their points obtuse, and feathers drunk with wine!

1817, William Cowper, The Task, London: John Sharpe, page 58:

Yet you do not brighten what would otherwise be dull, impart a keenness to the obtusest point, and diffuse a general lustre?

1932, Ernest Bramah, chapter XV, in The Moon of Much Gladness: Related by Kai Lung, London: Cassell and Co., →OCLC; republished [s.l.]: Read Books, 2013, →ISBN, section IV:


Burmese

Burmese (plural)
Birmese (alternative obsolete)

(zoology) A medium-sized, short-haired domestic cat breed, originating in Thailand.


radius

Borrowed from Latin radius (“ray”). Doublet of ray.

(zoology) The lighter bone (or fused portion of bone) in the forelimb of an animal.


ambisexual

ambisexual (comparative more ambisexual, superlative most ambisexual)

more ambisexual (comparative)
most ambisexual (superlative)

From ambi- + -sexual; in modern senses relating to human sexuality, influenced by bisexual.

However, the question must be asked: at which stage in the life-history of an ambisexual (hermaphroditic) fish does sex differentiation take place?

2012, U. Müller, W. Franke, Mechanisms of Gonadal Differentiation in Vertebrates, page 84:


reptile

From Middle English reptil, from Old French reptile, from Late Latin rēptile, neuter of reptilis (“creeping”), from Latin rēpō (“to creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *rep- (“to creep, slink”) (Pokorny; Watkins, 1969).

der

(zoology, scientifically speaking) Any member of Reptilia, including birds.


rhombus

Learned borrowing from Latin rhombus, from Ancient Greek ῥόμβος (rhómbos, “rhombus, spinning top”). Doublet of rhomb and rhumb.

romb

A parallelogram having all sides of equal length

the greedy Tuberon or Shark arm'd with a double row of venemous teeth pursues them, directed by a little Rhombus, Musculus or pilot-fish that scuds to and fro to bring intelligence [...].

1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, section I:

(zoology, now rare) Any of several flatfishes, including the brill and turbot, once considered part of the genus Rhombus, now in Scophthalmus.

(zoology, archaic) Snails, now in genus Conus or family Conidae.


lip

en-noun

lip (countable and uncountable, plural lips)

From Middle English lippe, from Old English lippa, lippe (“lip”), from Proto-West Germanic *lippjō (“lip”), from Proto-Germanic *lepô, from Proto-Indo-European *leb- (“to hang loosely, droop, sag”).
Cognate with West Frisian lippe (“lip”), Dutch lip (“lip”), German Lippe and Lefze (“lip”), Swedish läpp (“lip”), Norwegian leppe (“lip”),
Danish læbe (“lip”),
Latin labium (“lip”).

der

there's many a slip between the cup and the lip

there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip

(zoology) One of the edges of the aperture of a univalve shell.


horn

en-noun

horn (countable and uncountable, plural horns)

From Middle English horn, horne, from Old English horn, from Proto-West Germanic *horn, from Proto-Germanic *hurną. Compare West Frisian hoarn, Dutch hoorn, Low German Hoorn, horn, German Horn, Danish and Swedish horn, Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌽 (haurn).
Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱr̥h₂-nó-m, from *ḱerh₂- (“head, horn”). Compare Breton kern (“horn”), Latin cornū, Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras), Proto-Slavic *sьrna, Old Church Slavonic сьрна (sĭrna, “roedeer”), Hittite [script needed] (surna, “horn”), Persian سر (sar), Sanskrit शृङ्ग (śṛṅga, “horn”). Doublet of corn (“callus”), corno, and cornu.
(telephone): From the horn-shaped earpieces of old communication systems that used air tubes.

doublet

(countable, zootomy) A hard growth of keratin that protrudes from the top of the head of certain animals, usually paired.


wildebeest

en-noun

wildebeest (plural wildebeest or wildebeests or (rare) wildebeesten)

wildebeest (plural)
wildebeests (plural)
wildebeesten (plural rare)

→ Japanese: ウィルドビースト (wirudobīsuto)

Borrowed in the early 19th century from early Afrikaans wildebeest, modern wildebees (literally “wild ox”), with influence from beast.

Dassoud […] stepped forward with a lash composed of the caudal appendages of half a dozen wildebeests.

1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 3:

Later that morning, they wrapped Ian in a wildebeest skin and buried him near a shepherd tree.

2013, Eleanor Morse, White Dog Fell From the Sky:


cheetah

cheetahs (plural)
chetah (alternative)
cheeta (alternative)

→ Portuguese: chita

→ Spanish: chita

Borrowed from Hindi चीता (cītā, “leopard, panther”), ultimately from Sanskrit चित्र (citra, “multicolored, speckled”) (akin to Old High German haitar (“bright”) > German heiter; Old Norse heiðr (“bright”)) + Sanskrit काय (kāya, “body”), thus “having a spotted body”.

der

Acinonyx jubatus
Acinonyx jubatus#Translingual

(zoology) A distinctive member (Acinonyx jubatus) of the cat family, slightly smaller than the leopard, but with proportionately longer limbs and a smaller head; native to Africa and southeast Asia (where it is nearly extinct) and also credited with being the fastest terrestrial animal.


warthog

(zoology) A wild pig of the genus Phacochoerus, native to Africa.


mad cow disease

(colloquial, veterinary, pathology) Synonym of bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

جُنُون البَقَر

informal: bovine spongiform encephalopathy


guest

From Middle English gest, from Old Norse gestr, which replaced or was merged with Old English ġiest, both from Proto-Germanic *gastiz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis (“stranger, guest, host, someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality”). Cognate with German Gast (“guest”), Norwegian gjest (“guest”). Doublet of host, from Latin.

(zoology) Any insect that lives in the nest of another without compulsion and usually not as a parasite.


stalk

From Middle English stalke, stelke, stalk, perhaps from Old English *stealc, *stielc, *stealuc, from Proto-West Germanic *staluk, *stalik, from Proto-Germanic *stalukaz, *stalikaz, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *stalô, *staluz (“support, stem, stalk”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, stand; be stiff; stud, post, trunk, stake, stem, stalk”). Cognate with Old High German *stelh in wazzarstelh (“wagtail”), Danish stilk (“stalk, stem”), Swedish stjälk (“stalk, stem”), Icelandic stilkur (“stalk, stem”).
Related also to Middle English stale (“ladder upright, stalk”), Old English stalu (“wooden upright”), Middle Low German stal, stale (“chair leg”), Old English stela (“stalk”), Dutch steel (“stalk”), German Stiel (“stalk”), Albanian shtalkë (“crossbeam, board used as a door hinge”), Welsh telm (“frond”), Ancient Greek στειλειή (steileiḗ, “beam”), Old Armenian ստեղն (stełn, “trunk, stalk”).

varsi

something resembling the stalk of a plant

A stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids.

kaula

zoology: stem or peduncle, as in certain barnacles and crinoids

The narrow basal portion of the abdomen of a hymenopterous insect.

The peduncle of the eyes of decapod crustaceans.

tappi

zoology: peduncle of the eyes of decapod


achlamydate

From Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-, “not”) + χλαμύς (khlamús, “cloak, mantle”).

an achlamydate gastropod


ursine

Mid 16th century, from Latin ursīnus, adjectival form of ursus (“bear”) + -ine.


mange

en-noun

mange (usually uncountable, plural manges)

From Middle English manjewe, manjeue, from Old French manjue, derived from mangier (“to eat”) (modern French manger (“to eat”)), from Latin manducare.

Not yet come! [the] worrying of wolves, biting of mad dogs, the manges, and the—

1621, William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, The Witch of Edmonton:

(veterinary medicine) A skin disease of nonhuman mammals caused by parasitic mites (Sarcoptes spp., Demodecidae spp.).


honeycomb

honeycomb (countable and uncountable, plural honeycombs)

Alhambra
Oxford English Dictionary
United States Army

The noun is derived from Middle English hony comb, from Old English huniġcamb, from huniġ (“honey”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kn̥h₂ónks (“honey”)) + camb (“comb”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵómbʰos (“peg; tooth; row of teeth”)). The English word is analysable as honey + comb. The Oxford English Dictionary posits that the arrangement of several plates of wax “hanging parallel to each other from the roof of the hive suggests a comb with its teeth”. The verb is derived from the noun.

kennosto

something resembling honeycomb in having numerous cells or small holes

hunaja

something resembling honeycomb in sweetness; something desirable or pleasant

A rudimentall reſemblance hereof there is in the cruciated and rugged folds of the Reticulum, or Net-like Ventricle of ruminating horned animals, vvhich is the ſecond in order, and culinarily called the Honey-comb.

[1658, Thomas Browne, “The Garden of Cyrus. […]. Chapter III.”, in Hydriotaphia, Urne-buriall, […] Together with The Garden of Cyrus, […], London: […] Hen[ry] Brome […], →OCLC, page 149:

Of the four ſtomachs vvith vvhich ruminant animals are furniſhed, the firſt is called the paunch, vvhich receives the food after it has been ſlightly chevved; the ſecond is called the honeycomb, and is properly nothing more than a continuation of the former; […]

[1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of Ruminating Animals”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. […], new edition, volume III, London: […] F[rancis] Wingrave, successor to Mr. [John] Nourse, […], →OCLC, page 3:

honeycomb stomach
honeycomb stomach#English

(countable, by extension) Something resembling honeycomb (sense 1) in having numerous cells or small holes.

(countable, zoology) Ellipsis of honeycomb stomach (“the reticulum or second compartment of the stomach of a cow or other ruminant”).


clitoris

en-noun

clitoris (plural clitorises or clitorides)

/klɪˈtɔːɹɪs/

From post-classical Latin clītoris (16th century), or its source, Koine Greek κλειτορίς (kleitorís), probably from Ancient Greek κλείω (kleíō, “I sheathe, shut”), in reference to its being covered by the labia minora.
The related noun form κλείς (kleís) has a second meaning of "a key, a latch or hook (to close a door)." Wooden pegs were the original keys; a connection also revealed in Latin clavis (“nail”) and claudere (“to shut”) (see close). Some medical sources give a supposed Greek verb κλειτοριάζω (kleitoriázō, “touch or titillate lasciviously, tickle”) literally "to be inclined (toward pleasure)" (compare German Kitzler (“clitoris”, literally “tickler”), related to Greek κλειτύς (kleitús, “shut, closed”), a variant of κλιτύς (klitús, “hillside”), related to κλίνω (klínō, “I slope”), from the same root as κλῖμαξ (klîmax, “ladder”). But many sources take κλειτορίς (kleitorís) literally as Ancient Greek "little hill".

cog

genital tubercle - embryological precursor

(zoology) A similar erectile sexual organ present in the cloacas of female amniotes.


coyote

coyotes (plural)
cayeute (alternative obsolete)
cayota (alternative obsolete)
cayote (alternative obsolete)
coyoto (alternative obsolete)

→ Irish: cadhóit

Borrowed from Spanish coyote, from a Nahuan language, from Proto-Nahuan *koyootl. Compare Chinook ki-o-tī.

Near Rio Frio we shot several handsome birds, and saw a cayjotte, or wild dog, which in size nearly approached the wolf.

1824, William Bullock, Six Months' Residence and Travels in Mexico, page 119:

The MWRC animal care specialists attempted to unimprint the coyotes first by limiting their human contact and putting them with other wild coyotes. The hand-raised coyotes, however, were ostracized by the wild coyotes […]

Canis latrans
Canis latrans#Translingual

(zoology) Canis latrans, a species of canine native to North America.


glean

en-verb

glean (third-person singular simple present gleans, present participle gleaning, simple past and past participle gleaned)

gleans (present singular third-person)
gleaning (participle present)
gleaned (participle past)
gleaned (past)
glean (infinitive)
glean (first-person present singular)
gleaned (first-person past singular)
glean (present second-person singular)
gleanest (archaic present second-person singular)
gleaned (past second-person singular)
gleanedst (archaic past second-person singular)
gleans (present singular third-person)
gleaneth (archaic present singular third-person)
gleaned (past singular third-person)
glean (plural present)
gleaned (past plural)
glean (present subjunctive)
gleaned (past subjunctive)
glean (imperative present)
gleaning (participle present)
gleaned (participle past)

The verb is derived from Late Middle English glenen (“to gather (heads of grain left by reapers), glean; to gather (things) together, collect”), from Old French glener, glainer (modern French glaner (“to gather, glean”)), from Late Latin glen(n)are, the present active infinitive of glen(n)ō (“to make a collection”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *glanos (“clean; clear”, adjective), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleh₁- (“to glow, shine; to be glowing or shining”).
The noun is derived from Late Middle English glene (“collection of heads of grain gathered by gleaning; head of grain”), from Old French glene, glane (“act of gleaning; legal right to glean”) (modern French glane (“act of gleaning”)), from glener, glainer (verb): see above.
cognates
* Medieval Latin glana, glena (“bundle of ears of grain”)

pennaouiñ

(transitive) to collect (fruit, grain, or other produce) from a field, an orchard, etc., after the main gathering or harvest; to collect fruit, grain, or other produce from (a field, an orchard, etc.), after the main gathering or harvest; (intransitive) to collect fruit, grain, or other produce after the main gathering or harvest

poimia

(transitive) Of an animal: to feed by picking up or plucking (prey, mainly arthropods such as insects) from various places; (intransitive) of an animal: to feed by picking up or plucking prey from various places

Frigate birds glean a portion of their livelihood from the host of creatures which live at the surface of the ocean: flying-fishes, ctenophores, jelly-fishes, velela, janthina, and in fact anything that may attract their fancy. I even observed one bird aimlessly carrying a splinter of wood, uncertain of its utility, yet unwilling to release it.

1904 May–June, Walter K[enrick] Fisher, “The Home Life of a Buccaneer”, in Walter K. Fisher, editor, The Condor: A Magazine of Western Ornithology, volume VI, number 3, Palo Alto, Calif.: Cooper Ornithological Club, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 60:

Seen traveling and foraging in noisy flocks of 5 to 30 or more birds, gleaning insects, eggs, and larvae from shrubs and trees.

2006, “Bushtits [Bushtit: Psaltriparus minimus L]”, in Jonathan Alderfer, editor, National Geographic Field Guide to Birds: Washington & Oregon, Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, →ISBN, page 173:

(zoology) Of an animal, especially a bat or a bird: to feed by picking up or plucking (prey, mainly arthropods such as insects) from various places.

On migration, it [the Wilson's warbler (Cardellina pusilla)] appears as a sunny flash of gold in roadside shrubs or swamp thickets, refueling on insects gleaned from leaves or caught in midair forays.

1980 November 30, John K[enneth] Terres, “Wilson’s warbler”, in The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published April 1982, →ISBN, page 994:

The species [Keen's myotis (Myotis keenii)] takes flying and non-flying prey, suggesting it gleans as well as hawking; it has been observed hunting over water.

2019, Marianne Taylor, “Yangochiroptera Accounts”, in Merlin D[evere] Tuttle, editor, Bats: An Illustrated Guide to All Species, London: Ivy Press, The Quarto Group, →ISBN, page 236:

(zoology) Of an animal, especially a bat or a bird: to feed by picking up or plucking prey, mainly arthropods such as insects, from various places.


focus

en-noun

focus (countable and uncountable, plural foci or focuses or focusses)

foci (plural)
focuses (plural)
focusses (plural)

Borrowed from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”); see there for more. Doublet of fuel.
Kepler introduced the term into mathematics and the sciences in describing elliptical orbits of planets (quote from Nicholas Mee) :
"One of the interesting properties of an ellipse is that if there were a light bulb at one focus, then all the light that it emits would reflect off the ellipse and converge at the other focus. This is why Kepler originally used the name focus for these points."

bor+

(ichthyology) The centre of an older fish's scale, which is the point where a younger fish's scale starts to grow from.


series

en-noun

series (plural series or (obsolete) serieses)

series (plural)
serieses (obsolete plural)

→ Japanese: シリーズ (shirīzu)

→ Korean: 시리즈 (sirijeu)

→ Burmese: စီးရီး (ci:ri:)

Attested from the 1610s; borrowed from Latin seriēs, from serere (“to join together, bind”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, put together, to line up”). Related to desert, insert, sermon, and sorcerer.

مُتَسَلْسِلَة

in analysis: sum of the terms of a sequence


sagitta

en-noun

sagitta (plural sagittas or (arrowworm) sagittae)

/səˈd͡ʒɪt.ə/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-sagitta.wav

Borrowing from Latin sagitta (“an arrow, shaft, bolt”).

(zootomy) The larger of the two otoliths, or earbones, found in most fishes.


viverra

Viverra tigrina, or yellowish-grey weasel. […] Mr. Pennant has referred it to the genus felis, but Mr. Schrader makes it a viverra.

1829, John Wilkes, Encyclopaedia Londinensis, volume 24, page 410:

That curious animal, the basset (Bassaris astuta), which has alternately been associated by zoologists with the Ursidæ and Viverridæ, has blood corpuscles more agreeing in size with those of the bears, and consequently distinctly smaller than those of the viverras.

1862, The Medical Times and Gazette, volume 2, page 269:

(zoology, obsolete) An animal of the genus Viverra; a civet.


felon

From Middle English feloun, felone (“type of carbuncle or sore with pus; swelling on a hawk’s body”), possibly from Old French *felon, from Latin fel (“bile, gall; bitterness; poison; venom”): see etymology 1.

der

He hev been away from home for a few days, since he's had that felon upon his finger; for a' said, since I can't work I'll have a hollerday.

1874, Thomas Hardy, “In the Sun—a Harbinger”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 31:

(pathology, veterinary medicine) A small infected sore; an abscess, a boil; specifically, a whitlow (“infection near or under the cuticle of a fingernail or toenail”).


femur

(arachnology) A segment of the leg of an arachnid.


corporal

From Middle English corporal, corporall, corporel, corporell, from Old French corporal (French corporel), from Latin corporālis, from Latin corpus (“body”); compare corporeal.

The smaller 9 9 have less elongated fins, drabber corporal colors, and more transparent fins.

1998, Rüdiger Riehl, Aquarium Atlas, volume 3, page 572:

(zoology) Pertaining to the body (the thorax and abdomen), as distinguished from the head, limbs and wings, etc.


chupacabras

From Spanish chupa (“it sucks”) + cabras (“goats”).

(cryptozoology) A legendary creature in the folklore of parts of the Americas dating from the 1990s, supposed to attack and drink the blood of livestock, especially goats.


elephantine

From Latin elephantīnus, equivalent to elephant + -ine.

(zoology) Any member of the subfamily Elephantinae of elephants and their extinct close relatives.


marine

en-adj

marine (comparative more marine, superlative most marine)

more marine (comparative)
most marine (superlative)

Recorded since c.1420 as Middle English marin, borrowed from Middle French marin, from Old French, from Latin marinus (“of the sea”), itself from mare (“sea”), from Proto-Indo-European *móri (“body of water, lake”) (cognate with Old English mere (“sea, lake, pool, pond”), Dutch meer, German Meer, all from Proto-Germanic *mari). The modern pronunciation is presumably due to the influence of modern French marine, feminine singular of marin.

cog

(zoology) Inhabiting the high seas; oceanic; pelagic. (distinguished from maritime or littoral)


membrane

Late Middle English, borrowed from Latin membrāna (“skin or membrane that covers parts of the body”), from membrum (“a limb or member of the body”) + -āna. Doublet of membrana.

af

(anatomy, zootomy) A flexible enclosing or separating tissue forming a plane or film and separating two environments.

A mechanical, thin, flat flexible part that can deform or vibrate when excited by an external force.

Then they backed the membrane with a gel matrix containing a perfluorocarbon (PFC) propellant and fluorescent "nanobullets" about a micron wide, and hit it with ultrasound.

2016 January 14, Jessica Hall, “Nanoengineers build 'microcannons' that fire light-up bullets filled with drugs”, in ExtremeTech:

A flexible or semiflexible covering or waterproofing whose primary function is to exclude water.

(biology) A microscopic double layer of lipids and proteins forming the boundary of cells or organelles.


jelly

en-noun

jelly (countable and uncountable, plural jellies)

→ Chickasaw: cheliꞌ, jellꞌ

→ Welsh: jeli, sieli

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *gel-
Latin gelū
Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂
Proto-Indo-European *-yéti
Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti
Proto-Italic *-āō
Latin -ō
Latin gelō
Proto-Italic *-ātos
Latin -ātus
Latin -āta
Early Medieval Latin gelātabor.
Old French geleebor.
Middle English gele
English jelly
From Middle English gele, borrowed from Old French gelee, borrowed from Early Medieval Latin gelāta, from Latin gelō + -āta. Doublet of gelee.

etymon

Species of the phylum Cnidaria – the classic jelly – have existed in something close to their current form for at least 565 million years; Ctenophora, the comb jellies, are not much younger.

2014, Theo Tait, ‘Water-Borne Zombies’, London Review of Books, volume 36, number 5:


pluma

Borrowed from Latin plūma. Doublet of plume.


den

en-verb

den (third-person singular simple present dens, present participle denning, simple past and past participle denned)

dens (present singular third-person)
denning (participle present)
denned (participle past)
denned (past)

From Middle English den, from Old English denn (“den, lair (of a beast), cave; a swine-pasture, a woodland pasture for swine”), from Proto-West Germanic *dani (“threshing-floor, barn-floor”). Cognate with Scots den (“den, lair”), Middle Dutch denne (“burrow, den, cave, attic”), Dutch den (“ship's deck, threshing-floor, mountain floor”), Middle Low German denne, danne (“threshing-floor, small dale”), German Tenne (“threshing-floor, barn for threshing”).

cog

Although present in virtually all habitats, it preferred to den in caves, so its distribution, especially in cold, northern areas, may have been limited to limestone and other rocky regions where caves form.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 203:

“Denning” – behaviour around making dens – has changed and bears are swimming long distances, but, says Aars, there is still enough sea ice in the spring for the bears to hunt successfully.

2023 August 30, Patrick Greenfield, “Why it may be time to stop using the polar bear as a symbol of the climate crisis”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(intransitive, zoology) Of an animal, to use as a den; to take up residence in.


labium

Learned borrowing from Latin labium (“a lip”). Doublet of lip.

lbor

(entomology) A lower mouthpart of an insect that is formed by the second pair of maxillae united in the middle line.

(zoology) A liplike part of various invertebrates.


snare

From Middle English snare, from Old English snearu (“snare, noose”), from Proto-West Germanic *snarhā, from Proto-Germanic *snarhǭ (“a sling; loop; noose”). Cognate with Old Norse snara. Also related to German Schnur and Dutch snaar, snoer.

inh

(veterinary) A loop of cord used in obstetric cases, to hold or to pull a fetus from the mother animal.