prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (words are sexy)
prettygoodword ([personal profile] prettygoodword) wrote2013-01-07 07:22 am

zygodactylous

zygodactylous (zeye-guh-DAK-til-ous) - adj., (of a bird) having two toes facing forward and two facing backward.


An adaptation for birds that climb tree trunks, such as woodpeckers, parrots, cuckoos, and trogons. Alternate forms include zygodactylic and zygodactyl, the latter of which can also be the noun of being zygodactylous. The first form to appear was zygodactyl, coined in 1828 from Greek roots zygón, yoke (used in scientific language for things that are paired) + dactylos, fingers/toes, but the forms with more apparent English adjectival endings appeared in due course.

---L.

[identity profile] movingfinger.livejournal.com 2013-01-07 07:43 pm (UTC)(link)
...leading us in a roundabout way back to the Dioscuri.

[identity profile] prettygoodword.livejournal.com 2013-01-07 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
And Janus.