osteoglophonic

Meanings

1. Characterised by hollowed out regions in bones.

Etymology

Coined circa 1975–1980 by Professor Jürgen Spranger of Mainz, West Germany, in the usual scientific tradition of ISV terms based on New Latin and Ancient Greek. The osteo- prefix was added to a transliterated and mutated form of γλυφίς (gluphís), and the adjective ends in the suffix -ic. Greenberg and Lewis (1990) pointed out that the -glo- syllable would have been better transliterated as -gly- and that the following syllable should have been different as well. Regardless, though, the word osteoglophonic is firmly established as a fait accompli.