pterodactyl
English edit
Etymology edit
From French ptérodactyle, a term coined by Cuvier from Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “wing”) + δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
pterodactyl (plural pterodactyls)
- (paleontology) A pterosaur, of the genus Pterodactylus.
- (informal) Any pterosaur.
- 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London, New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
- He described also the iguanodon and the pterodactyl - two of the first of the wonders which they had encountered.
Related terms edit
Translations edit
informal term for any pterosaur
|