Word.ws English Dictionary

ratite

/ˈɹætaɪt/

ratite adjective: pertaining to running, flightless birds with no keels on their sternums (as opposed to carinate).

Adjective

ratite (not comparable)

  1. 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
    Synonyms:
    ratitate

Noun

ratite (plural ratites)

  1. 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.

ratite meaning in Tamil

ratite in Tamil

நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும் பறவைகளில், இது ஒரு சிறப்பு இனமாகும்

Synonyms of ratite

Forms of ratite

pluralratites

Origin of ratite

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

Words that rhyme with ratite

Questions about ratite

What does ratite mean?
Ratite means pertaining to running, flightless birds with no keels on their sternums (as opposed to carinate).
What is ratite in Tamil?
Ratite in Tamil is நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும் பறவைகளில், இது ஒரு சிறப்பு இனமாகும். See Ratite meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is ratite?
Ratite can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce ratite?
Ratite is pronounced /ˈɹætaɪt/.

Words near ratite in the dictionary

  1. ratis
  2. Ratisbon
  3. ratissage
  4. ratissages
  5. ratitate
  6. ratite
  7. ratites
  8. ratiuncule
  9. ratiuncules
  10. ratkind
  11. Ratlam

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ratite (page history and authors); ratite (Tamil Wiktionary) (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: “ratite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ratite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.