palaeognathous
/palɪˈɒɡnəθəs/ /peɪlɪˈɒɡnəθəs/Chiefly Palaeontology
adjective
Designating a relatively rigid type of palate and jaw characteristic of a small number of living and some fossil birds (sometimes classified as a superorder Paleognathae), in which, among other features, the vomers are usually large and imperfectly fused.
Origin
1930s; earliest use found in Alfred Romer (1894–1973), paleontologist and biologist. From scientific Latin Palaeognathae, superorder name + -ous; so called on the assumption that such a palate is a primitive condition.