perissodactyl
perissodactyl noun: any ungulate mammal with an odd number of toes and belonging to the Perissodactyla, an equid, a tapir, or a rhinoceros.
Noun
perissodactyl (plural perissodactyls)
- Any ungulate mammal with an odd number of toes and belonging to the Perissodactyla, an equid, a tapir, or a rhinoceros.
- The chalicotheres were among the strangest mammals that ever lived. They were perissodactyls - relatives of horses, rhinos and tapirs - and if all you had seen of one was its head, you might have mistaken it for a very strange horse.2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 102
Forms of perissodactyl
| plural | perissodactyls |
|---|
Origin of perissodactyl
From Ancient Greek περισσός (perissós, “uneven”) + δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger, toe”). Compare the taxon name Perissodactyla.
Words formed from perissodactyl
Questions about perissodactyl
- What does perissodactyl mean?
- Perissodactyl means any ungulate mammal with an odd number of toes and belonging to the Perissodactyla, an equid, a tapir, or a rhinoceros.
- What part of speech is perissodactyl?
- Perissodactyl is a noun.
- What is the plural of perissodactyl?
- The plural of perissodactyl is perissodactyls.
Words near perissodactyl in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: perissodactyl (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: “perissodactyl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/perissodactyl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.