mammal

Meaning

Noun

• An animal of the class Mammalia, characterized by being warm-blooded, having hair and producing milk with which to feed its young.
• A vertebrate with three bones in the inner ear and one in the jaw.

Origin

• Modern Latin Mammalia, coined 1758 by Linnaeus for the class of mammals, from neuter plural of Late Latin mammalis, from Latin mamma, perhaps cognate with mamma (mother).