anatine

[prettygoodword]

anatine (AN-uh-tain, AN-uh-tin) - adj., pertaining to or resembling a duck.


If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's anatine even if it isn't a duck. Anatine also, in a technical use, can mean pertaining to or belonging to the subfamily Anatinae, the dabbling ducks, or the family Anatidae, which includes Anatinae as well as geese and swans. Taken in the 1830s from Latin anatīnus, of ducks, from anas via its stem form anat-, a duck (which ultimately goes back to PIE root *h₂énh₂ts, a duck, because of course the PIE homeland had ducks, as they're worldwide).

Also, >quack!<


Thanks, WikiMedia!

---L.

Comments

[conuly]

Meanwhile, our English word for the bird "duck" is because they duck underwater to eat. I don't know why we lost whatever the original word was and had to invent a new one, but a surprising number of English language bird names, for birds found in Britain, are either descriptive, repurposed human names, or both.

My most favorite duck meme

My second most favorite duck meme

[prettygoodword]

There are indeed at least ten.