ossifrage means gypaetus barbatus, the bearded vulture, the diet of which is almost exclusively bone marrow. It carries an Arena rating of 1668, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, ossifrage ranks #210 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #679 of 17,128 for Most Ponderous Words, #893 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #944 of 17,131 for Scariest Words.
ossifrage is pronounced /ˈɒsɪfɹɪd͡ʒ/.
Why “ossifrage” is a great word
A large Old World vulture, specifically the bearded vulture or lammergeier, that feeds chiefly on the marrow from bones it shatters by dropping them onto rocks. From Latin ossifraga, feminine of ossifragus ("bone-breaking"), from os (oss-, "bone") + frangere ("to break"). First attested in English 1595–1605. Unlike a "vulture," a general carrion-eater waiting for soft decay, or an "osprey," a fisher of silver flashes from the water, the ossifrage is a consumer of finality. It is the percussive crack echoing off a cliff face, the deliberate fall of a bleached femur, and the slow, circling descent upon the rocky platter of its own making—a creature that transforms the last solid thing into nourishment, the final accountant of the feast.
Etymology
From Middle French ossifrage, from Latin ossifraga (“osprey”), ossifragus (“osprey”), from ossifragus (“bone breaking”).
noun
- Gypaetus barbatus, the bearded vulture, the diet of which is almost exclusively bone marrow.e.g.“And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray […]” — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 11:13:
- The young of the sea eagle or bald eagle.
- The osprey.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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