incognitum en · NOUN
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin incognitum (“unknown”). Coined by William Hunter.
Meanings
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(archaic) An American mammoth or mastodon, especially when presumed extant.
When, as president, he dispatched Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to the Northwest, Jefferson hoped that they would come upon live incognita roaming its forests.
2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, chapter 2, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Henry Holt and Company:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| incognita | Number=Plur | lexicographic |