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mastodon

(mas′tə dän′)

noun

any of an extinct family (Mastodontidae) of proboscidean mammals that differed from the elephants and mammoths by being larger and having a different structure of the molars

Origin: < Fr mastodonte, coined (1806) by Baron Georges (Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert) Cuvier < Gr mastos (see masto-) + odont-, stem of odous, tooth: from the nipplelike processes on its molar

Related Forms:

mastodonic adjective

See mastodon in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Any of several very large, extinct proboscidian mammals of the genus Mammut (sometimes Mastodon), resembling the elephant but having molar teeth of a different structure.

Origin:

Origin: New Latin Mastodōn, genus name

Origin: : Greek mastos, breast, nipple

Origin: + Greek odōn, odont-, tooth (from the nipple-shaped protrusions on the crowns of its molars); see dent- in Indo-European roots

Related Forms: