Giraffid

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Any of the hoofed, long-necked ruminant mammals belonging to the family that includes giraffes and okapis
2. A member of the family Giraffidae, a group of even-toed ungulates characterized by long necks and distinctive coats
3. An even-toed hoofed mammal of the family that contains the giraffe and its close relative, the okapi

Etymology: The giraffid is a family-level term, and its history is a neat example of how scientific names reach ordinary English. It was borrowed from the translingual scientific name Giraffidae, the taxonomic family that contains the giraffe and its close relatives, the okapi and the extinct giraffe-like mammals of the same lineage. Taxonomists form such family names by adding the suffix "-idae" to the stem of a genus, here "Giraffa," the genus of the giraffe itself. The genus name goes back to the Arabic "zarāfa," which was adopted into Medieval Latin as "giraffa" and entered European languages from there. English speakers who needed a word for the whole family therefore took the Latin-style scientific form and gave it an English ending, "-id," which marks a member of a group. Anyone using "giraffid" is, in effect, saying "a member of the giraffe family" using a name built from the giraffe's own Arabic-derived title.