Adjectives for Corvidae

[jadine]

I always see the term "crow-like" being used in descriptions, which is just a travesty, and I'm not aware of an official, dictionary-approved substitute.

Poll Adjectives for Corvidae

Comments

[vulture23]

I actually really like the sound of "hrafnic", but nobody would have a clue what was meant by it.

Then again, giving people a nudge in the direction of a dictionary could be a good thing.....

[curgoth]

Well, *I* would. And I can think of a handful of others who would also pick up on it.

[yami_mcmoots]

Felidae -> feline, Ursidae -> ursine, Equidae -> equine, Canidae -> canine... I think you actually have to use corvine or Linneaus's ghost will eat you.

Unless you're going for crows specifically, and not corvids in general, in which case I vote for crow-like as a perfectly sensible English construction.

[3smallishmagi]

It wouldn't just make sense, it would be right:
http://not.bloodylikely.org/OED/OED.rhtml/?search=corvine&entry=243440
http://not.bloodylikely.org/OED/OED.rhtml/?search=raven&entry=94553

(u:dict p:tionary)

[wendolen]

Yes.

[beowabbit]

Hrafnic mixes an Anglo-Saxon root (in original form) with a Latin suffix. It burns!

Hrafnisc would have become modern ravenish; hrafn-lice, modern ravenlike.

I’m with yami_mcmoots; I vote for corvine.

Crowish isn’t bad, either.

[jadine]

I like "hrafn-lice" purely for its oddity.

Does the word "polyamory" make you shudder with horror?

[flwyd]

Wouldn't coraxian just apply to ravens?

... and why don't I have any icons with birds?

[jadine]

Actually, my understanding is that the Greeks didn't differentiate between crows and ravens, and "corax" would apply to either. The same is true for most language roots; species differentiation is relatively modern, and in fact the current line between crows and ravens has been proven bogus by genetic testing.

[rocket_jockey]

The two adjectives I find in the dictionary are "corvid" and "corvine," so I vote for those.