ornithorhynchus

[ awr-nuh-thuh-ring-kuhs ]

noun

1. the platypus.

ornithorhynchus

/ ˌɔːnɪθəʊˈrɪŋkəs /

noun

1. the technical name for duck-billed platypus

Word History and Origins

Origin of ornithorhynchus¹

1790–1800; < New Latin: genus name, equivalent to ornitho- ornitho- + -rhynchus < Greek rhýnchos bill

Word History and Origins

Origin of ornithorhynchus¹

C19: New Latin, from ornitho- + Greek rhunkhos bill

Example Sentences

Our next subject is named The Ornithorhynchus Paradoxus, and is a very singular quadruped, remarkable for its structure.

From Project Gutenberg

It is much more nearly paralleled in the little group of Monotremata allied to the living Ornithorhynchus.

From Project Gutenberg

Turtles have beaks, and there is one species of mammal (the ornithorhynchus) which has a bill like that of a duck.

From Project Gutenberg

Your African plant seems to be a vegetable Ornithorhynchus, and indeed much more than that.

From Project Gutenberg

In the Echidnidae, but not in Ornithorhynchus, the central portion of the acetabulum is unossified as in birds.

From Project Gutenberg