Trachypterid

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Describing a member of a family of extinct armored fishes known for their distinctive spiny fins and protective bony plates
2. Pertaining to a prehistoric group of fish characterized by thick, plate-like armor covering their bodies and wing-like fin spines
3. Relating to an ancient category of fish species distinguished by robust external skeletons and elongated, wing-shaped fin structures

Etymology: The name belongs to living fish, not prehistoric ones. Trachypterids are ribbonfishes and dealfishes, long, compressed, deep-sea species with no thick armor. The armored, plate-covered fish that the given meaning describes are a different group altogether. The word is a New Latin scientific coinage, built from the genus name "Trachypterus" and the suffix "-id," which marks a family. "Trachypterus" combines the Greek "trachys," meaning "rough," and "pteron," meaning "wing" or "fin." The name refers to the rough, spiny-looking fins of these fish, and the family was named after that genus.