Ratites

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A diverse group of flightless birds that includes species like ostriches and emus, characterized by a flat breastbone without a keel
2. Large, primarily terrestrial birds known for their inability to fly and distinctive features, including a flat breastbone and strong legs
3. Flightless avian species that are often large, such as the kiwi and rhea, recognized for their unique morphological traits and evolutionary history

Etymology: "Ratites" is the plural of "ratite", and the name comes from a boat. Ratites are flightless birds such as ostriches, emus and rheas, and the sternum of these birds lacks the keel that most birds have, the ridge of bone that anchors flight muscles. A raft, the flat vessel made of lashed logs, has no keel either, so the bird was named for the resemblance: the Latin "ratis" meant "raft", and the English suffix "-ite" was added to form a term for the group. The name is a modern scientific coinage, built from a classical root rather than a word the Romans used for birds. Its meaning rests entirely on that missing keel, so a ratite is defined by a bone it lacks, not by any feature it has.