Odontophore

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A hard or cartilaginous support structure that holds and moves teeth or the radula in mollusks
2. A skeletal or firm base used to bear and operate dental elements or a ribbon-like tooth-bearing organ found in some animals
3. A supportive framework that functions to carry or manipulate teeth or a toothed feeding organ in certain mollusks

Etymology: "Odontophore" is a technical coinage built from two Greek elements: "odonto-", from "odous" (genitive "odontos"), meaning "tooth," and "-phore," from "pherein," meaning "to bear" or "to carry." Put together, the name describes exactly what the structure does: it bears the teeth. The term belongs to the vocabulary of zoology, where it names a rigid supporting framework that holds and moves the feeding apparatus of certain animals. In snails and their relatives, it is the ribbon-like tooth-bearing organ, the radula, along with the cartilaginous base that supports it. The same kind of skeletal frame occurs in other groups with similar feeding machinery, and the word is used to describe it across these animals.