Alula
//ˈæljuːlə//
"Alula" in a Sentence (2 examples)
More recently, the upturned wing tips of jet aircraft mimic the "fingers" of birds' terminal primary feathers, and the slotted leading edges of aircraft wings are directly copied from the alula ("thumb" wings) in birds.
On the wing, even the tiny “thumb feather” or alula can be seen.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.