ratite

noun

rat·​ite ˈra-ˌtīt 

: 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

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

It was known elephant birds were ratites—an ancient group of mostly big, flightless birds, including emus and cassowaries from Australia, ostriches from Africa, rheas from South America and others. —Flora Lichtman, Scientific American, 2 June 2023

At one point, researchers believed that D. stirtoni was related to other flightless ratites, like emus and ostriches. —National Geographic, 15 May 2018

Ratites and tinamous are among the scant 3 percent of birds in which males have penises. —Liz Langley, National Geographic, 3 Sep. 2016

But in all ratites aside from ostriches, only the male cares for the offspring. —Liz Langley, National Geographic, 3 Sep. 2016

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