Tertial

//ˈtɝʃl̩// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any flight feather attached to the humerus (upper arm) of a bird.

    "He continues — "There was the same rear up, with the head bent down, followed by an upjerk of the hind parts; the long sickle-shaped tertials, so noticeable in this species, seemed little if at all expanded, […]"

Synonyms

All synonyms
tertiary

Example

More examples

"He continues — "There was the same rear up, with the head bent down, followed by an upjerk of the hind parts; the long sickle-shaped tertials, so noticeable in this species, seemed little if at all expanded, […]"

Etymology

From Latin tertius (“third”); the tertial feathers are the third row of feathers. By surface analysis, terti- + -al.

Related phrases

flight feather

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