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carnassial

[kahr-nas-ee-uhl]

adjective

(of teeth) adapted for shearing flesh.

noun

a carnassial tooth, especially the last upper premolar or the first lower molar tooth of certain carnivores.

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Carnassial is always a great word to know.

So is mammal. Does it mean:

warm-blooded vertebrate with feathers, wings, scaly legs and beak which bear young in shelled eggs

vertebrate with body hair that nourishes young with milk from mammary glands

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Origin:
1840–50; < French carnassi(er) flesh-eating (< Provençal, equivalent to carnasse augmentative derivative of carn flesh, meat (< Latin carn-, stem of carō) + -ier -ary) + -al¹

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins

World English Dictionary

carnassial (kɑːˈnæsɪəl)

—*adj*
1.	zoology of, relating to, or designating the last upper premolar and first lower molar teeth of carnivores, which have sharp edges for tearing flesh

—n
2.	a carnassial tooth

[C19: from French carnassier meat-eating, from Provençal, from carnasso abundance of meat, from carn meat, flesh, from Latin carō]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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carnassial

car·nas·si·al