a bone in the wing of a bird that consists of the metacarpal bones and some of the carpal bones fused together
carpometacarpus in American English
(ˌkɑːrpəˌmetəˈkɑːrpəs, -ˈmetəˌkɑːr-)
nounWord forms: plural-pi (-pai) Ornithology
1.
the bone of a bird's wing formed by fusion of the carpal and metacarpal bones
2.
the part of the wing supported by this bone
Word origin
[carpo-2 + metacarpus]carpo- is a combining form meaning “wrist,” used in the formation of compound words. Otherwords that use the affix carpo- include: carpometacarpal