mammalian
mammalian Lexical Profile
mammalian Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
Relating to, characteristic of, or belonging to the taxonomic class Mammalia (warm-blooded vertebrates that nourish their young with milk).
"The fossil record reveals a rapid diversification of mammalian species following the extinction of the dinosaurs."
• noun
Any warm-blooded vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia, distinguished by the possession of hair or fur, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands in females for nursing young.
"Early terrestrial mammalians were mostly small, nocturnal creatures that lived alongside large reptiles."
• Rhymes for mammalian
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in the early 19th century from the Modern Latin taxonomic class Mammalia, which derives from the Late Latin mamma ('breast' or 'teat'), referring to the milk-secreting glands characteristic of the class.