Dictionary

pectinal en · ADJ

Etymology

Latin pecten (“comb”). See pectinate. By surface analysis, Latin pectin- (“comb, scallop”) + -al.

Meanings

1. (said of teeth, usually) resembling a comb.
   • pectinal teeth
   • pectinal ossicles

Forms

Relateds

pectine

pectinal en · NOUN

Etymology

Latin pecten (“comb”). See pectinate. By surface analysis, Latin pectin- (“comb, scallop”) + -al.

Meanings

1. A fish whose bones resemble the teeth of a comb.
   • Now although Galen in this place makes instance but in one, yet there are other fishes, whose eies regard the heavens, as Plane, and cartilagineous fishes, as pectinals, or such as have their bones made laterally like a comb; for when they apply themselves to sleep or rest upon the white side, their eies on the other side look upward toward heaven. 1650, Sir Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica:

Forms