cygnine
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Being of the genus Cygnus (swans), within subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae, though sometimes considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae.
adj
Of, concerning, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of swans.
noun
An alkaloid from plants of genus Gastrolobium, found in Australia, principally Western Australia, highly toxic to introduced animals.
Dated; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The genus Choristopus, Eyton, apparently Anserine rather than Cygnine, is said to possess this character […]"
- "But, in the cutting of it, if thou dost shed / One drop of cygnine blood, thy clumsiness..."
- "On the whole, then, the bones of the pectoral arch in Dendrocygna — if we may judge from the two North American species of the genus — are more anatine than they are either anserine or cygnine."
- "1949, G. L. Hendrickson, Classical Philology, Vol. 44, No. 1, page 30 alternate ...scarcely a translator can be found who conveys any other impression than that Horace becomes a swan before our eyes. One almost wonders in what cygnine dialect the rest of the poem was spoken."
Etymology
From Latin cygnus (“swan”), with English -ine. The alkaloid was named in reference to the Swan River in Western Australia, where the toxic plants were discovered.
Word Breakdown
- Prefix: -ine
Usage
Inflected Forms
more cygnine (comparative)
most cygnine (superlative)
Phrases
monofluoroacetic acid