: a bird with a flat breastbone
especially : any of various mostly flightless birds (such as an ostrich, rhea, emu, moa, or kiwi) with small or rudimentary wings and no keel on the sternum that are probably of polyphyletic origin and are assigned to a number of different orders
ratite adjective

Examples of ratite in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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All are members of a group called the ratites, which includes ostriches, rheas, and emus who are also giant flightless birds. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 5 June 2024 Using these methods, Dr Wu and collaborators found that the oldest split in the avian tree created two lineages, one that gave rise to the ratites — today’s ostriches and emus, the palaeognaths — and the other comprising all other modern birds, neoaves. Grrlscientist, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

ultimately from Latin ratitus marked with the figure of a raft, from ratis raft

First Known Use

1874, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of ratite was in 1874

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Cite this Entry

“Ratite.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ratite. Accessed 25 Mar. 2025.

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