Word.ws English Dictionary

notornis

UK/nə(ʊ)ˈtɔːnɪs/

notornis noun: the takahe, Porphyrio mantelli, a flightless rail native to New Zealand.

Noun

notornis

  1. (New Zealand) The takahe, Porphyrio mantelli, a flightless rail native to New Zealand.
    • The weather had been exceptionally severe, and it is supposed that this was how the Notornis came to be found on the flats, having been driven down from the high country.1881, Walter L. Buller, “On the Notornis”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute

Origin of notornis

From translingual Notornis (“a genus name”), from Ancient Greek νότος (nótos, “south”) + ὄρνις (órnis, “bird”).

Questions about notornis

What does notornis mean?
Notornis means the takahe, Porphyrio mantelli, a flightless rail native to New Zealand.
What part of speech is notornis?
Notornis is a noun.
How do you pronounce notornis?
Notornis is pronounced /nə(ʊ)ˈtɔːnɪs/ (UK).

Words near notornis in the dictionary

  1. notorieties
  2. notoriety
  3. notorious
  4. notoriously
  5. notoriousness
  6. notornis
  7. notory
  8. notoryctemorphian
  9. notoryctemorphians
  10. notoryctid
  11. notoryctids

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: notornis (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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