prehensile

WOTD – 25 January 2008    

See also préhensile

English

Etymology

From French préhensile, from Latin perfect passive participle prehēnsus, from prehendō (“grasp, seize”), + adjective suffix -ile, from Latin -ilis.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /prɪˈhɛn.saɪl/, X-SAMPA: /prI"hEn.saIl/
• (US) IPA: /priˈhɛnsəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

prehensile (not comparable)

1. (zoology) Able to take hold of and clasp objects; adapted for grasping especially by wrapping around an object.

   Some monkeys have prehensile tails which they use to pick things up.

Derived terms

• prehensility

Related terms

• prehensive

Translations

able to take hold of objects

• Dutch: grijp- (nl)
• Finnish: tarttuma-
• Icelandic: grip-
• Italian: prensile (it)

• Manx: yn-ghreimmee (gv)
• Polish: chwytny (pl) m
• Russian: цепкий (ru) (čépkij)