Rigidipenna
rij-id-ih-PEN-nuh
Genus
stiff-feathered one
Literally: rigid feather
| Part | Meaning | Language | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rigid- | stiff, rigid, inflexible | Latin (rigidus) | Latin adjective stem rigid-, used here as the first element of a compound |
| -i- | connecting vowel | Latin connecting vowel -i-, standard in Latin compounds | |
| -penna | feather, quill, wing | Latin (penna) | Latin feminine noun, nominative singular; the whole compound takes feminine gender |
A Latin compound noun formed from the adjective stem rigid- ('stiff') joined to the feminine noun penna ('feather, quill') by the Latin connecting vowel -i-. The head noun penna determines grammatical gender: feminine. The construction is a descriptive compound in the style of many ornithological genus names, meaning 'the one with stiff/rigid feathers.' As a genus name it stands alone (no species epithet is given) and is treated as a Latin nominative singular feminine noun.
Pronunciation
- rij-id-ih-PEN-nuh Antepenult rule: the penult vowel (e in -pen-) is short and followed by two consonants (nn), which would normally stress the penult; however, the doubled -nn- causes the penult to be heavy — stress falls on PEN. Five syllables: ri-gid-i-pen-na; penult is 'pen', its vowel is short but followed by nn (two consonants), so penult stress applies.
Other readings
One could read rigid- as the full adjective rigidus modifying penna directly (a syntactic rather than morphological compound), but the -i- connecting vowel confirms a morphological compound formation, which is standard for scientific genus names.
The dictionary and a dictionary lookup confirmed 'penna' (Latin, feather/quill/wing) and 'rigidus'/'rigid' (Latin, stiff/rigid) in the dictionary. Rigidipenna is a genus of intertropical birds (nightjars, family Caprimulgidae); the name alludes to the stiffened primary feathers characteristic of the group. The final -a of penna is pronounced as a short 'uh' sound per the pronunciation rule for final -a.