Etymology From brachy- + cephalic, literally “short-headed”, via New Latin brachycephalus, from Ancient Greek βραχυκέφαλος (brakhuképhalos), from βραχύς (brakhús, “short”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”).
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Anatomy, Medicine, SciencesOf a person or animal Having a head that is short from front to back (relative to its width from left to right); having a broad skull with a cephalic index over 80.
"Round-headed," he muttered. "Brachycephalic, gray-eyed, black-haired, with suggestion of the negroid. Celtic, I presume?"1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
Just how cosmopolitan the town was is clear from the fact that two different races are found buried in the graves: the dolichocephalic Eurafrican, and the brachycephalic Proto-Mediterranean.1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 153:
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Also a subject of extensive investigation was the cephalic index, a measurement of the general shape of the skull, defined as the ratio of its breadth to its length multiplied by one hundred to eliminate the decimal point. Ratios below seventy-five indicated skulls that were long and narrow, termed “dolichocephalic”; those between seventy-five and eight, slightly broader or “mesocephalic”; and even rounder heads with ratios above eighty were called “brachycephalic.”1996, William H. Tucker, The Science and Politics of Racial Research, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 23:
Etymology From brachy- + cephalic, literally “short-headed”, via New Latin brachycephalus, from Ancient Greek βραχυκέφαλος (brakhuképhalos), from βραχύς (brakhús, “short”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”).
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A brachycephalic person or creature; someone with a short, broad skull, typically indicated by a cephalic index over 80.