Testudinate

adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A turtle.

    "Cope..enumerates.. 13 sea-saurians, 48 testudinates, and 50 sea serpents."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, like or relating to a tortoise.

    "2003: Fans of the testudinate pace and art-house vibe of writer-director Sally Potter — editorial review of the DVD The Man Who Cried, http://amazon.com"

  2. 2
    Resembling a tortoise shell in appearance or structure; arched; vaulted.

Example

More examples

"2003: Fans of the testudinate pace and art-house vibe of writer-director Sally Potter — editorial review of the DVD The Man Who Cried, http://amazon.com"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Late Latin testūdinātus (“arched, vaulted”). By surface analysis, Latin testūdō (testūdin- in compounds) + -ate (adjective-forming suffix).

Etymology 2

From a substantivation of the above adjective. Equivalent to Latin testūdō (testūdin- in compounds) + -ate (noun-forming suffix).

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