English
ossicone
Ossicone comes from Latin os ‘bone’, from cōnus ‘cone, wedge, peak’, and ultimately from Ancient Greek κῶνος.
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκῶνοςkônos‘cone, spinning top, pine cone’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnus‘cone, wedge, peak’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEos‘bone’
- Englishearliest quotation 2022ossicone
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκῶνοςkônos‘cone, spinning top, pine cone’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnus‘cone, wedge, peak’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEos‘bone’
- Englishearliest quotation 2022ossicone
Earliest quotation: 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds: “The Kanapoi Sivatherium has two pairs of ossicones, above…”
Linked words
through Ancient Greek κῶνος ‘cone, spinning top, pine cone’
through Latin cōnus ‘cone, wedge, peak’
through Latin os ‘bone’
Today it means
noun Either of the horn-like protuberances on the heads of giraffes and male okapi. Some extinct species in the family bore antler-like ossicones.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Ancient Greek κῶνος / ossicone