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Glite Dictionary
ornithischian

ornithischian

9.9
A plant-eating dinosaur with hip bones like a bird's
  • noun
  • /ˌɔrnɪˈθɪskiən/
  • Specialized
translation icon : ornitiscio
  • In the museum, the ornithischian display features models illustrating how these herbivorous dinosaurs lived.
  • ornithischians, sauropods, and theropods

Examples

  • "The restaurant won't even start construction until November." "Continuing on our prehistoric safari, we come next to the herbivores of the ornithischian group."

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The ornithischian dinosaur, known for its bird-like pelvis, roamed the Earth millions of years ago.

  • Paleontologists classify the stegosaurus as an ornithischian due to its unique pelvic structure.

Synonyms

ornithischian dinosaur
vsornithischian
  • Specialized
9.9

A plant-eating dinosaur with a pelvis similar to a bird's

is the shorter one word form and therefore less explicit

Compounds

ornithischian dinosaur
  • Specialized
9.9

A plant-eating dinosaur with a pelvis similar to a bird's

Surface Forms

ornithischian singular
ornithischians plural

Morphology

ornithischian = Ornithischia (opaque) = ornithisch + ian

Formed by the regular suffixation of '-ian' to the taxonomic name 'Ornithischia', but the base is a specialized scientific term built from obscure combining forms.

Etymology

Ornithischian comes from the Greek parts ornith- 'bird' and ischion 'hip', so it literally means 'bird-hipped'. That's why ornithischians are the group of plant-eating dinosaurs named for their hips, which look like a bird's hip.