Meanings
alternative brachykephalic
- not comparableanatomyHaving a head that is short from front to back (relative to its width from left to right); having a broad skull with a cephalic index over 80.
"Round-headed," he muttered. "Brachycephalic, gray-eyed, black-haired, with suggestion of the negroid. Celtic, I presume?"
1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC2 more examples
Just how cosmopolitan the town was is clear from the fact that two different races are found buried in the graves: the dolichocephalic Eurafrican, and the brachycephalic Proto-Mediterranean.
1981, William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture, London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 153Also a subject of extensive investigation was the cephalic index, a measurement of the general shape of the skull, defined as the ratio of its breadth to its length multiplied by one hundred to eliminate the decimal point. Ratios below seventy-five indicated skulls that were long and narrow, termed “dolichocephalic”; those between seventy-five and eight, slightly broader or “mesocephalic”; and even rounder heads with ratios above eighty were called “brachycephalic.”
1996, William H. Tucker, The Science and Politics of Racial Research, University of Illinois Press, →ISBN, page 23Synonyms: brachycephalous, brachycranial, brachycranic, brachykephalous, broad-headed, roundheaded, short-headed · Antonyms: dolichocephalic, dolichocephalous, long-headed
plural brachycephalics · plural brachycephali · alternative brachykephalic
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveHaving a head that is short from front to back (relative to its width from left to right); having a broad skull with a cephalic index over 80.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivehaving a short broad head with a cephalic index of over 80
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekβραχυκέφαλος
- New Latinbrachycephalus
- Englishbrachycephalic
From brachy- + cephalic, literally “short-headed”, via New Latin brachycephalus, from Ancient Greek βραχυκέφαλος (brakhuképhalos), from βραχύς (brakhús, “short”) + κεφαλή (kephalḗ, “head”).
More words from New Latin, Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan braquicèfal
- braquicèfalhaving a head that is short from front to back
Finnish lyhytkalloinen
- lyhytkalloinenhaving a head that is short from front to back
French brachycéphale
- brachycéphalehaving a head that is short from front to back
Italian brachicefalo
- brachicefalohaving a head that is short from front to back
Portuguese braquicéfalo, braquicefálico
- braquicéfalohaving a head that is short from front to back
- braquicefálicohaving a head that is short from front to back
Romanian brahicefal
- brahicefalhaving a head that is short from front to back
Spanish braquicéfalo
- braquicéfalohaving a head that is short from front to back
Tagalog punggok-uluhin
- punggok-uluhinhaving a head that is short from front to back
Cite this entry
brachycephalic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brachycephalic
“brachycephalic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brachycephalic. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “brachycephalic,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/brachycephalic.
Source: brachycephalic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.