ratite meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

ratite

adj

/ˈɹætaɪt/

Etymology From Latin ratis (“raft”) + -ite; ratites (unlike other birds) lack a keel on their sternum, and rafts are vessels that lack keels.

Pertaining to running, flightless birds with no keels on their sternums (as opposed to carinate).

Against what was probably the general expectation, it became undeniable that New Zealand was indeed the home of huge ratite birds.2000, Errol Fuller, Extinct Birds, Oxford, page 37:

ratite

noun

Etymology From Latin ratis (“raft”) + -ite; ratites (unlike other birds) lack a keel on their sternum, and rafts are vessels that lack keels.

A member of a diverse group of mostly large, running, flightless birds that lack keels on their sternums, mostly extinct such as the elephant bird and the moa, but including the extant cassowaries, emu, kiwi, ostrich, and rhea; formerly grouped together in the order Struthioniformes, and including the Paleognathae except the tinamous.

Synonyms: ratite
Hypernyms: bird
Hyponyms: cassowary, elephant bird, emu, kiwi, moa, nothura, ostrich, rhea, tinamou