Gnathite

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Any of the paired limb-like parts near the mouth of an arthropod, used for handling and chewing food
2. A mouthpart of a crustacean or insect, a modified appendage that helps manipulate and grind food
3. One of the segmented jointed appendages surrounding the mouth of an arthropod, adapted for feeding

Etymology: "Gnathite" is a technical coinage built from two Greek elements. The first, "gnath-", comes from Greek "gnathos," meaning "jaw," and the second, "-ite," is a suffix used in scientific terminology to name a part or unit of something. Put together, a gnathite is a part of an arthropod that functions as a jaw or mouthpart. The term belongs to the vocabulary of zoology and entomology, where it names the paired appendages that sit around an arthropod's mouth and are modified for handling and chewing food. Insects, crustaceans, and their relatives each have these limbs, and anatomists use the word to refer to them as a group, so that a crab's mouthparts or a beetle's jaws can be discussed in the same terms.