Word.ws English Dictionary

litoptern

UK/lɪˈtɒptəːn/

litoptern noun: an extinct hoofed mammal of the order †Litopterna, from the Cenozoic period.

Noun

litoptern (plural litopterns)

  1. An extinct hoofed mammal of the order †Litopterna, from the Cenozoic period.
    • [C]ertain litopterns like the camel-like Macrauchenia also lived on until within 15,000 years before the present.2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 73

Forms of litoptern

plurallitopterns

Origin of litoptern

From modern Latin Litopterna (order name), from Ancient Greek λῑτός (lītós, “smooth”) + πτέρνη (ptérnē, “heel-bone”).

Questions about litoptern

What does litoptern mean?
Litoptern means an extinct hoofed mammal of the order †Litopterna, from the Cenozoic period.
What part of speech is litoptern?
Litoptern is a noun.
How do you pronounce litoptern?
Litoptern is pronounced /lɪˈtɒptəːn/ (UK).
What is the plural of litoptern?
The plural of litoptern is litopterns.

Words near litoptern in the dictionary

  1. litnesses
  2. litnessing
  3. litogen
  4. litogens
  5. Litong
  6. litoptern
  7. litopterns
  8. litoral
  9. litorals
  10. Litorid
  11. litorin

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: litoptern (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “litoptern.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/litoptern. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.