Chloropicus
klor-OH-pih-kus
Genus
the green woodpecker
Literally: green woodpecker
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| chlor- | green; also used for pale yellow or yellow-green | Greek (chlor, -o) | stem from Greek χλωρός (chlōros); combining form chloro- used before consonant |
| -o- | connecting vowel | standard Greek combining vowel linking chlor- to picus | |
| -picus | woodpecker | Latin (picus) | Latin common noun picus (masculine, 2nd declension); also a figure from Roman mythology (Picus, a king turned into a woodpecker); used as a genus terminal in ornithology |
Chloropicus is a masculine Latin genus name formed from the Greek combining form chloro- ('green') joined by the connecting vowel -o- to the Latin noun picus ('woodpecker'). The construction is a compound noun in apposition: 'the woodpecker that is green.' This is a Graeco-Latin hybrid (Greek modifier + Latin head noun), a common formation in 19th-century ornithological nomenclature. The genus name stands alone as a uninomial at genus rank.
Pronunciation
- klor-OH-pih-kus Antepenult stress: the penult vowel (-pi-) is short and followed by only one consonant (c) before a single following vowel-less syllable; penult rule 5 does not apply (no two consonants after the penult vowel), so stress falls on the antepenult -o-, which is long (followed by a single consonant and then -i-, a front vowel).
Other readings
Chlor- could theoretically be read as relating to chlorine (the element, also named from Greek χλωρός), but in a zoological context the colour meaning 'green' is overwhelmingly correct.
Both roots were confirmed in the dictionary: chlor/chloro (Greek, green) and picus (Latin, woodpecker). The name is a Graeco-Latin hybrid, which was accepted practice in 19th-century taxonomy even though purists prefer all-Greek or all-Latin formations. Picus is also a proper name in Roman mythology — a prophetic king of Latium said to have been transformed into a woodpecker — giving the name a double resonance. Chloropicus is used as a genus of African and Eurasian woodpeckers (family Picidae), sometimes treated as a subgenus of Dendropicos or Dendrocopos depending on the classification followed.