dolichocephalic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   having a head or skull that is relatively long from front to back compared with its width

   The domestic rabbit developed a more dolichocephalic skull than its wild relative.

2. 2
   noun

   historical anthropology: a person classified as having a cephalic index below 75

   A nineteenth-century craniologist might have labeled the long-headed specimen a dolichocephalic.

From New Latin dolichocephalus, formed from Greek dolichos, 'long,' + kephale, 'head,' with English -ic. Nineteenth-century anthropologists used cephalic-index categories such as dolichocephalic in racial typologies; modern anatomy retains the descriptive measurement but rejects those simplistic racial conclusions.

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