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prettygoodwordempennage (ahm-puh-NAHZH or em-puh-NAHZH) - n., the tail assembly on an aircraft.
The horizontal stabilizer, elevator flaps, vertical fin, and rudder, as a unit -- all the parts that give it dynamic stability and control pitch and yaw. Borrowed from French in 1909 where it meant the feathers of an arrow, from empenner, to feather an arrow, dating back to Middle French, from em-, a from of en- + penne, feather (from Latin penna) + verbal suffix.
---L.
The horizontal stabilizer, elevator flaps, vertical fin, and rudder, as a unit -- all the parts that give it dynamic stability and control pitch and yaw. Borrowed from French in 1909 where it meant the feathers of an arrow, from empenner, to feather an arrow, dating back to Middle French, from em-, a from of en- + penne, feather (from Latin penna) + verbal suffix.
---L.
