cygnine

Etymology

From Latin cygnus (“swan”), with English -ine. The alkaloid was named in reference to the Swan River in Western Australia, where the toxic plants were discovered.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

cygnine (comparative more cygnine, superlative most cygnine)

(zoology) Being of the genus Cygnus (swans), within subfamily Anserinae of the family Anatidae, though sometimes considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae.
- 1869, Elliott Coues, On the Classification of Water Birds, Merrihew & Son, published 1870, page 26:
  The genus Choristopus, Eyton, apparently Anserine rather than Cygnine, is said to possess this character […]
Of, concerning, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of swans.
- 1848, Edmund Saul Dixon, Ornamental and Domestic Poultry‎, page 20:
  But, in the cutting of it, if thou dost shed / One drop of cygnine blood, thy clumsiness...
- 1915, Zoologische Jahrbücher: Abteilung für Systematik, Geographie und […] ‎, volume 38, page 44:
  On the whole, then, the bones of the pectoral arch in Dendrocygna — if we may judge from the two North American species of the genus — are more anatine than they are either anserine or cygnine.
- 1949, G. L. Hendrickson, Classical Philology, Vol. 44, No. 1, page 30 alternate
  ...scarcely a translator can be found who conveys any other impression than that Horace becomes a swan before our eyes. One almost wonders in what cygnine dialect the rest of the poem was spoken.

Related terms

Noun

cygnine (uncountable)

(dated) An alkaloid from plants of genus Gastrolobium, found in Australia, principally Western Australia, highly toxic to introduced animals.