artiodactyl

The story

1. Ancient Greek · derived fromἄρτιος“even”
2. taxonomic name · learned borrowing fromArtiodactyla
3. English todayartiodactyl

Learned borrowing from taxonomic name Artiodactyla, from Ancient Greek ἄρτιος (ártios, “even”) + δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger, toe”).

Words from the same roots

First known use, by meaning

• from 19th c. Any ungulate mammal with an even number of toes and belonging to the Artiodactyla, including pigs, sheep, deer, cattle, and most grazing animals. In contrast, horses have an odd number of toes and as such are not Artiodactyla, but Perissodactyla.