lunate
/ˈluːneɪt/ adjective, noun
Forms lunates
- adjective Shaped like a crescent. “a lunate beak”
- noun (archaeology) A small stone artifact, probably an arrowhead, with a blunt straight edge and a sharpened, crescent-shaped back, especially characteristic of the Mesolithic Period.
- noun (anatomy) The lunate bone.
Synonyms
Etymology
First attested in 1777; borrowed from Latin lūnātus (“crescent-shaped”), from lūna (“moon”), see -ate (adjective-forming suffix).
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [L. lunatus crescent-shaped, p. p. of lunare to bend like a crescent, fr. luna the moon.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lunate”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details