Cracids

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Large, mostly arboreal game birds of the Americas, including guans, chachalacas and curassows, related to the megapodes
2. Tropical New World birds in the pheasant-like family Cracidae that live chiefly in forests and feed on fruit and leaves
3. Members of the Cracidae family, a group of forest-dwelling fowl found from the southern United States through South America

Etymology: "Cracids" is the plural of "cracid", a member of the bird family Cracidae, which includes guans, chachalacas and curassows. The family takes its name from the genus "Crax", a New Latin scientific name for the curassows, so the term is a modern technical coinage from that genus name rather than an ancient word.