Alated

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Having structures that resemble wings or are winged in form
2. Describing a form that possesses wing-like extensions or features
3. Characterized by having parts shaped like wings or resembling wings in appearance

Etymology: "Alated" is formed from the Latin "ala," meaning "wing," plus the adjective-forming suffix "-ated," which English took from Latin past participles ending in "-atus." The result describes something furnished with wings or shaped like them. The Latin root "ala" is also the source of "aisle," a word that started out meaning a wing of a church building before it came to mean the passageway between rows of pews. Botanists and zoologists use "alated" for structures that resemble wings, such as the thin flanges along a plant stem or the flattened edges of certain seeds and insect bodies. The term entered English in the scientific writing of the 18th and 19th centuries, when naturalists needed precise words for the body parts they were describing.

Synonyms: winged, winged-like