Hypoptilum

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An aftershaft. rare

    "This secondary feather is known as the aftershaft or hypoptilum, and its presence or absence constitutes the most important structural difference in the feathers of existing birds."

Synonyms

All synonyms
aftershaftaftershaft

Example

More examples

"This secondary feather is known as the aftershaft or hypoptilum, and its presence or absence constitutes the most important structural difference in the feathers of existing birds."

Etymology

From New Latin hypoptilum, from hypo- + Ancient Greek πτίλον (ptílon, “soft feathers, down”).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.