Moas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Extinct flightless birds native to New Zealand, known for their large size and part of the group with long necks and legs; plural term referencing these prehistoric animals
2. Refers to several species of giant, wingless birds once found in New Zealand, characterized by their height and herbivorous diet; the plural name for these birds
3. Describes a group of enormous, non-flying birds historically inhabiting New Zealand, noted for their size and grazing habits; the plural form denoting multiple such birds

Etymology: The plural of "moa" is "moas," and the singular is the name of a family of giant flightless birds that lived only in New Zealand. Moa were ratites, the group that includes ostriches and emus, and some species stood over three metres tall. Their name comes from Māori, the language of New Zealand's indigenous people, and was adopted into English when European naturalists began describing the remains in the nineteenth century. Because the birds were hunted by Māori and vanished centuries before most Europeans arrived, the word for them was known to English speakers almost entirely from bones, eggshells and fossils. The plural simply follows the regular English pattern of adding "-s."

Synonyms: giant moa, Dinornithiformes