pterodactyl

noun

Etymology: From French ptérodactyle, a term coined by Cuvier from Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “wing”) + δάκτυλος (dáktulos, “finger”). By surface analysis, ptero- + -dactyl.

1. A pterosaur of the genus Pterodactylus.
2. Any pterosaur.

   “He described also the iguanodon and the pterodactyl - two of the first of the wonders which they had encountered.”

   “Had a pterodactyl swooped down from those old-time crags, it would hardly have been out of place.”