🐦 Unable to fly 🐧 A flightless animal

nonvolant

9.8

An animal that cannot fly

noun
/nɒnˈvɒlənt/

Specialized

: no volador

The dodo was a famous nonvolant that became extinct centuries ago.

Examples

Many nonvolants like ostriches cannot fly.
Researchers studied several nonvolant species unique to the remote island.
Unlike bats, these mammals are completely nonvolant and live only on the ground.
A penguin is a nonvolant bird.
The ostrich is a well-known nonvolant bird that roams the savannahs of Africa.
Many nonvolant animals, such as emus and kiwis, have adapted to life on land.
The dodo is an extinct example of a nonvolant species that once inhabited Mauritius.

Synonyms

flightless bird

vsnonvolant

2 3.7

A bird that cannot fly, for example an ostrich or kiwi

refers to any animal unable to fly rather than only certain types

How Flightless

nonvolant

Specialized

9.8

flying lizard

Indian

1 7.4

glider

Specialized

37 4.6

Surface Forms

nonvolant singular

nonvolants plural

Morphology

nonvolant = volant (semi-transparent) = non + volant

The word is a straightforward negation of 'volant' with 'non-', but 'volant' itself is a relatively learned and uncommon base, so the form is not fully transparent for most learners.

Etymology

A nonvolant combines non- 'not' with volant from Latin volare 'to fly'. That makes a nonvolant an animal that is 'not able to fly', like the dodo.