ossicone

See also: ossicône

English

Ossicones of a living male Giraffe.

Fossil antler-like ossicone of extinct giraffe species Sivatherium maurusium

Etymology

From Latin os (“bone”) and Middle French cone, from Latin cōnus (“cone, wedge, peak”), from Ancient Greek κῶνος (kônos, “cone, spinning top, pine cone”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɒsɪkəʊn/

Noun

ossicone (plural ossicones)

1. Either of the horn-like protuberances on the heads of giraffes and male okapi. Some extinct species in the family bore antler-like ossicones.
   • 2022, Thomas Halliday, Otherworlds, Penguin, published 2023, page 27:

     The Kanapoi Sivatherium has two pairs of ossicones, above the eye and between the ears, and neither is diminutive.

Derived terms

• ossiconed

Translations

horn-like protuberance

• French: ossicône (fr)
• German: Stirnzapfen m, Knochenzapfen m
• Italian: ossicono
• Spanish: osicono m