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Jan 27, 2010
This week's theme
Words made with combining forms

This week's words
theogony
oligopoly
artiodactyl
heliolatry
hagiography

Artiodactyl
Toes of a camel camel toes
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

artiodactyl

PRONUNCIATION:
(ahr-tee-o-DAK-til)

MEANING:
adjective: Having an even number of toes on each foot.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek artio- (even in number, perfect) + -dactyl (toed, fingered). The mammal order Artiodactyla is made up of animals such as pig, camel, and giraffe. Those having an odd number of toes are called perissodactyl, from Greek perisso- (uneven, strange). Examples: horse, tapir, and rhinoceros.

USAGE:
"Joe Palca: By the way, you may not be aware that the pig is only the second artiodactyl to have its genome sequenced -- the cow came first."
Renee Montagne; Scientists Decode DNA of Domestic Pig; Morning Edition; National Public Radio (Washington, DC); Nov 2, 2009.

See more usage examples of artiodactyl in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If God exists, I hope he has a good excuse. -Woody Allen, author, actor, and filmmaker (b. 1935)

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