enantiornithine
/ɪˌnæntiˈɔː(ɹ)nɪθaɪn/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
18
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any of an extinct group of protobirds of the Enantiornithes.
adj
Pertaining to the Enantiornithes.
Example Sentences
- "The enantiornithines were rather diverse in form and size, so it is not clear if Junornis was typical or unusual but it does mean that this form of flight was one of a number being explored by early birds."
- "The lineage that led to all living birds is known as the ornithuromorphs. But it was the other branch, called the enantiornithines, that dominated the skies for tens of millions of years."
- "But enantiornithine birds seem to have developed feathers in a radically different way, as Dr. O’Connor and her colleagues argued in a recent study. They hatched with bare bodies but with fully feathered wings."
Etymology
From enanti- + + Ancient Greek ὄρνιθος (órnithos, “bird”) + -ine.