plantigrade

American  

[plan-ti-greyd] / ˈplæn tɪˌgreɪd /

adjective

1. walking on the whole sole of the foot, as humans and bears.

---

noun

1. a plantigrade animal.

plantigrade British  

/ ˈplæntɪˌɡreɪd /

adjective

1. walking with the entire sole of the foot touching the ground, as, for example, man and bears

---

noun

1. a plantigrade animal

plantigrade Scientific  

/ plăn′tĭ-grād′ /

1. Walking with the entire sole of the foot on the ground, as humans, bears, raccoons, and rabbits.

---

Other Word Forms

• subplantigrade adjective

Etymology

Origin of plantigrade

First recorded in 1825–35; from French plantigrade (noun), from New Latin plantigradus, equivalent to Latin plant(a) “sole of the foot” + -i- + -gradus; -i-, -grade

Example Sentences

Molars 3⁄2, except in Aeluropus, with blunt or sharp cusps; no alisphenoid canal, except in Aelurus; humerus generally with a foramen; feet plantigrade; tail, except in Aeluropus, long and generally ringed.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 4 "Carnegie Andrew" to "Casus Belli" by Various

I now remembered that the porcupine was one of the plantigrade family, with five toes on his hind feet, and only four on the fore ones.

From The Desert Home The Adventures of a Lost Family in the Wilderness by Reid, Mayne

“There are some other plantigrade animals besides bears?” said Ivan, interrogatively; “our badger and glutton, for instance?”

From Bruin The Grand Bear Hunt by Zwecker, Johann Baptist

Procyonid�, prō-si-on′i-dē, n.pl. an American family of plantigrade carnivorous mammals, including raccoons and coatis.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

It is plantigrade —that is, it stands lower on the hind-legs than in front.

From The Western World Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North and South America by Kingston, William Henry Giles