Cracid

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Any of the tropical American birds of the family Cracidae, such as guans, chachalacas and curassows, related to the pheasants
2. A member of the Cracidae, a family of largely arboreal game birds found in forests from Mexico south into South America
3. A bird belonging to the guan family, a group of fowl-like tree dwellers native to the forests of the Americas

Etymology: Cracids are a family of birds, including guans, chachalacas, and curassows, found mainly in the Americas. Their name is a scientific coinage rather than an old English word. It comes from the genus name "Crax," which Linnaeus gave to the curassows, and the family takes its name from that genus with the Latin ending "-idae," which zoologists use for animal families. The English form "cracid" is simply the member-word made from that family name, following the same pattern as other bird-family names. The origin of "Crax" itself is not firmly established, so the family name is best understood as a label built on a genus name rather than a word with a traceable folk history.