pterodactylic

English

Etymology

From pterodactyl +‎ -ic.

Adjective

pterodactylic (not comparable)

1. Of, like, or pertaining to a pterodactyl.
   • 2023 [1981], Tolkien, J. R. R., “#211 to Rhona Beare”, in Carpenter, Humphrey, compiler, The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien Revised and Expanded Edition, New York: HarperCollins, →ISBN, Pterodactyl, page 298:

     I did not intend the steed of the Witch-King to be what is now called a 'pterodactyl', and often is drawn (with rather less shadowy evidence than lies behind many monsters of the new and fascinating semi-scientific mythology of the 'Prehistoric'). But obviously it is pterodactylic and owes much to the new mythology, and its description even provides a sort of way in which it could be a last survivor of older geological eras.

2. (loosely, proscribed) Of, like, or pertaining to any pterosaur; pterosaurian.