microdontadj.
/ˈmʌɪkrə(ʊ)dɒnt/, U.S. /ˈmaɪkroʊˌdɑnt/, /ˈmaɪkrəˌdɑnt/ Chiefly Physical Anthropology.
Having or characterized by relatively or abnormally small teeth; designating such a tooth.
ΚΠ
1880 T. H. Huxley in Proc. Zool. Soc. 248 In the group A the sectorial teeth are relatively smaller than in the group B, so that it may be convenient to speak of the one as microdont and the other as macrodont Alopecoids.
1884 Science 12 Dec. 538/2 The microdont races are the low-caste natives of central and southern India; the Polynesians;..and the British.
1885 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 14 185 The Microdont section, containing all the so-called Caucasian or white races.
1921 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 51 352 The skull thus comes within the category microdont.
1989 Amer. Jrnl. Anthropol. 78 115 Discriminant analysis..supports classification of San dentitions as microdont and Central Sotho dentitions as mesodont.
1991 Dental Update 18 308 (title) A microdont molar? An unusual artifact on a dental panoramic radiograph.
Derivatives
ΚΠ
1892 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Microdontous.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
adj.1880