ratite

From Latin ratis (“raft”) +‎ -ite; ratites (unlike other birds) lack a keel on their sternum, and rafts are vessels that lack keels.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹætaɪt/

ratite (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to running, flightless birds with no keels on their sternums (as opposed to carinate). [from 19th c.]

   Synonym: ratitate

   • 2000, Errol Fuller, Extinct Birds, Oxford, page 37:

     Against what was probably the general expectation, it became undeniable that New Zealand was indeed the home of huge ratite birds.

ratite (plural ratites)

1. A member of a diverse group of mostly large, running, flightless birds that lack keels on their sternums, mostly extinct such as the elephant bird and moa, but including the extant cassowaries, emu, kiwi, ostrich, and rhea; formerly grouped together in the order Struthioniformes, and including the Paleognathae except the tinamous.

• aettir, rattie, attire, Tiaret

• IPA^(key): /ʁa.tit/

ratite m (plural ratites)

1. ratite

• IPA^(key): /raˈti.te/
• Rhymes: -ite
• Hyphenation: ra‧tì‧te

ratite m (plural ratiti)

Borrowed from French ratite.

ratite f pl (plural only)

1. ratite

• IPA^(key): /raˈtite/ [raˈt̪i.t̪e]
• Rhymes: -ite
• Syllabification: ra‧ti‧te

ratite f (plural ratites)

1. ratite