haltere
2 synonyms for haltere, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Noun — A tiny club-shaped organ found in pairs on certain two-winged insects, beaten quickly in flight to help them keep balance.
Synonyms
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Etymology
From Ancient Greek ἁλτῆρες (haltêres, “weights held in the hand to give an impetus in leaping”). Note that in the original Greek, there seems to have been no singular for ἁλτῆρες (haltêres), and some authorities maintain that halteres is a plurale tantum, but in English entomological usage, haltere sometimes appears as...
Full origin of haltere →