The Word-Hoard: Leonine

Banon

Leonine

adj.

Of, relating to, suggestive of, or resembling a lion.

 

“Leonine,” from the Latin leo and leoninus, isn’t a difficult word, per say. It did catch my eye in my recent reading of The Swordsman of Mars, however, because it’s so scarcely used compared to many other bestial descriptors. Bovine, ovine, aquiline, lupine – great words to have at your disposal. Add “leonine” if it’s not already in your mind sack.

 

A moment later the leonine head of Miradon Vil appeared above the top of the stairway. As he stepped out on the roof the courtiers again rendered the imperial salute.

– Otis Adelbert Kline, The Swordsman of Mars (1933)

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