osculant

adjective

1. Adhering closely; applied to certain creeping animals, such as caterpillars.

2. Intermediate between two genera, groups, families, etc., and having some of the characteristics of each; interosculant.

   The genera by which two families approximate are called osculant genera.

3. Intermediate between multiple potentially reconstructible protoforms, but having a mismatch in semantics or morphology that cannot be explained through regular patterns of change.

4. Tangent, touching at a single point.

Where it comes from

From Latin osculans, osculantis, present participle of osculari (“to kiss”). See osculate.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry osculant (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← ortolanosculation →

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