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.
- half-integral
- half-island
- half-jokingly
- half landing
- half-lap
- half-length
- half-life
- half-light
- halfling
- half-litre
- half-marathon
- half mast
- half measure
- half-moon
- half-move
- half-naked
- half note
- half one (or two etc.)
- half-open
- half-pants
- half past one (or two etc.)
- half pay
- halfpenny
- halfpennyworth
- half-pie