noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A spot on the outer wing of insects which is often thickened or coloured and so stands out from the rest; it is a group of specialized cells and has an effect on flight dynamics.

   "The pterostigma is particularly noticeable in dragonflies."

Synonyms

All synonyms

stigma

Example

More examples

"The pterostigma is particularly noticeable in dragonflies."

Etymology

From ISV, formed from Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón) + στίγμα (stígma), meaning "wing mark"; by surface analysis, ptero- + stigma.

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