Showing results for "furcula"

• plural of furculum.

furcula

American  

[fur-kyuh-luh] / ˈfɜr kjə lə /

noun

• furculae
  plural

1. the forked clavicular bone of a bird; wishbone.

2. the ventral, forked appendage on the abdomen of a springtail that the insect uses in springing itself into the air.

---

furcula British  

/ ˈfɜːkjʊlə /

noun

1. any forklike part or organ, esp the fused clavicles (wishbone) of birds

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• furcular
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• furculae
  plural

Etymology

Origin of furcula

1855–60; < Latin: a forked prop. See fork, -ule

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

furcula furculae

The furcula is flexible enough to bend and provide support to the shoulder girdle during flapping.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2015

“The clavicle part is real. In birds, the fused clavicles form the furcula, or wishbone. And nowadays—in 2014—we know that dinosaurs had wishbones, too.”

From Newsweek

This reduction of the crest in all the breeds probably accounts for the great variability, before referred to, in the curvature of the furcula, and in the shape of its sternal extremity.

From The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I. by Charles Darwin

The extremities of the furcula, where articulated to the coracoids, vary considerably in outline.

From The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I. by Charles Darwin

Scarcely anything is known of the sternum, and little of the shoulder-girdle, except the very stout furcula; scapula typically bird-like.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Slice 4 "Aram, Eugene" to "Arcueil" by Various

During the takeoff, when the springtails smacked their tail-like furculae off the water, the collophores picked up a drop of water.

From New York Times ● Nov. 7, 2022

They also had wishbones, or furculae, another chapter of the story.

From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2016