Altricious

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Characterized by offspring that are born in an undeveloped state and necessitate considerable nurturing from their caregivers who provide sustenance and protection
2. Describing a type of young life that hatches lacking maturity and thus relies heavily on parental support for survival and growth
3. Referring to young animals born in an immature condition, needing significant help and feeding by parents to survive

Etymology: The word's story starts with a Latin category of birds. Early naturalists needed a label for species whose chicks hatch blind, featherless and helpless, and they borrowed it from "altrices", a plural that was used to group such birds. The Latin noun "altrix" is the feminine form of "altor", meaning "nourisher", and both come from the verb "alere", "to nourish". So the core idea is feeding and rearing, not the state of the newborn itself. The adjective "altricious" is a near-synonym of "altricial", and both describe young that need prolonged care. Their modern use is a contrast with "precocial" young, such as chicks that can walk and feed soon after hatching. The vocabulary of ornithology gave English a precise term for a dependency that the older word "nourisher" had only hinted at.

Synonyms: dependent, helpless, needy, vulnerable, fragile