brachycephalic
/ˌbɹæk.ɪ.səˈfæl.ɪk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.64 in modern English
33
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
5
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Having a head that is short from front to back (relative to its width from left to right); having a broad skull with a cephalic index over 80.
Example Sentences
- ""Round-headed," he muttered. "Brachycephalic, gray-eyed, black-haired, with suggestion of the negroid. Celtic, I presume?""
- "Just how cosmopolitan the town was is clear from the fact that two different races are found buried in the graves: the dolichocephalic Eurafrican, and the brachycephalic Proto-Mediterranean."
- "Also a subject of extensive investigation was the cephalic index, a measurement of the general shape of the skull, defined as the ratio of its breadth to its length multiplied by one hundred to eliminate the decimal point. Ratios below seventy-five indicated skulls that were long and narrow, termed “dolichocephalic”; those between seventy-five and eight, slightly broader or “mesocephalic”; and even rounder heads with ratios above eighty were called “brachycephalic.”"
Etymology
From brachy- + cephalic, literally “short-headed”, via New Latin brachycephalus, from Ancient Greek βραχυκέφαλος (brakhuképhalos), from βραχύς (brakhús, “short”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: brachycephalus, βραχυκέφαλος