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altricial

adjective/alˈtrɪʃəl/

C2CEFR level
95/100Rarity: very rare
TechnicalRegister

Born or hatched blind, naked and helpless, requiring prolonged parental care.

Robins are altricial, their nestlings little more than gaping mouths for the first days.

Similar: nidicolous, helpless

Origin: from Latin altrix 'nourisher'

Topic: zoology in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: zoology