Grallatory

/ˈɡrælətɔːri/ adjective

Definition

Another form meaning relating to or characteristic of wading birds; adapted for walking on long legs through water.

Etymology

From Latin 'grallator' + '-ory' (adjective suffix). This is a variant of grallatorial, showing how English naturalists used different Latinate endings to describe the same zoological concept.

Kelly Says

The existence of both 'grallatorial' and 'grallatory' shows how English scientists sometimes created multiple Latin-derived terms for the same concept—there was no central authority standardizing zoological vocabulary.

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