Leptodon
LEP-toh-don
Genus
the slender-toothed one
Literally: slim tooth
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| lepto- | thin, slender, fine, small | Greek (lept, -o) | combining form with connecting vowel -o- |
| -don | tooth | Greek (dont, -o; odont, -o) | contracted form of odont-; functions here as the terminal element |
A compound Greek noun used as a Latin-gender masculine genus name. The head element is -don (tooth), modified by lepto- (slender). The name stands alone as a uninomial genus name. It is a noun in apposition to itself, treated as masculine in Latin taxonomy.
Pronunciation
- LEP-toh-don Antepenult stress: the penult vowel (-o-) is short and followed by only one consonant (d) before the final vowel (o), so stress falls on the antepenult 'Lep-'.
Other readings
lepto- + -don could theoretically be read as lepto- + don (gift, Greek doron), but the dental context of all Leptodon taxa (hawks with slender bills, or fossil reptiles) makes 'slender tooth' the overwhelmingly preferred reading.
The dictionary confirmed both 'lept' (thin, slender) and 'odont / dont' (tooth) are present in the dictionary. The short form -don for -odont is a standard Greek contraction seen in many taxonomic names (e.g. Mastodon, Iguanodon). Leptodon is used for a genus of hawks (Accipitridae) whose slender bill inspired the name, and also appears in fossil taxa.