altricial

From New Latin Altrices (a former division of birds), plural of altrīx, the feminine of altor (“nourisher”), from alere (“to nourish”).

• IPA^(key): /əlˈtɹɪʃəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪʃəl

altricial (comparative more altricial, superlative most altricial)

1. (zoology) Helpless at birth (of young animals); or having young which are helpless at birth.
   • 2001, Gonyou, Keeling & Keeling, Social Behaviour in Farm Animals, CABI Publishing, published 2001, page 63:

     Altricial young are typical among carnivores, which might be expected to be hampered in their hunting behaviour if the pregnant mother has to carry its young for a long period.

   • 2011, Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature, Penguin, published 2012, page 281:

     First, humans are altricial, with immature newborns and a long childhood.

   • 2016, Joseph Henrich, chapter 5, in The Secret of Our Success , Princeton: Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

     First, compared to other species, babies are altricial, meaning that they are weak, undermuscled, fat, and uncoordinated (sorry, babies, but it's true).

• altricious
• nidicolous

• precocial

altricial (plural altricials)

1. Such an animal.

• precocial

altricial m or f (plural altriciais)

1. (zoology, of a species) altricial (having young which are helpless at birth)

altricial m or f (masculine and feminine plural altriciales)

1. altricial