pecten

American  

[pek-tuhn] / ˈpɛk tən /

noun

pectens, plural pectines plural

1. Zoology, Anatomy.

   1. a comblike part or process.

   2. a pigmented vascular membrane with parallel folds suggesting the teeth of a comb, projecting into the vitreous humor of the eye in birds and reptiles.

2. any bivalve mollusk of the genus Pecten; scallop.

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pecten British  

/ ˈpɛktɪn /

noun

1. a comblike structure in the eye of birds and reptiles, consisting of a network of blood vessels projecting inwards from the retina, which it is thought to supply with oxygen

2. any other comblike part or organ

3. any scallop of the genus Pecten, which swim by expelling water from their shell valves in a series of snapping motions

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pectens
  plural
• pectines
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pecten

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin pecten comb, rake, scallop, pubes, akin to pectere, Greek pékein to comb, card

Example Sentences

The fossils found in the third bed, consist of:— Pecten Dufreynoyi, d'Orbigny, "Voyage, Part Pal."

From Geological Observations on South America by Darwin, Charles

The breccia also is fossil, probably also tertiary; at all events, the identity of the few species which were recognisable in it—Cerithium, Pecten, and Venus—with living species could not be determined.

From The Former Philippines thru Foreign Eyes by Craig, Austin

I collected sixty shells from the New Jersey deposits in 1841, five of which were identical with European species— Ostrea larva, O. vesicularis, Gryphaea costata, Pecten quinque-costatus, Belemnitella mucronata.

From The Student's Elements of Geology by Lyell, Charles, Sir

M. Domeyko has sent to France a collection of fossils, which, I presume, from the description given, must have come from the neighbourhood of Arqueros; they consist of:— Pecten Dufreynoyi, d'Orbigny, "Voyage" Part Pal.

From Geological Observations on South America by Darwin, Charles