cartilaginous

Borrowed from Latin cartilāginōsus (“full of cartilage, very gristly”), from cartilāgō (“cartilage, gristle”) +‎ -ōsus (“-ous, -ose”); compare French cartilagineux. Equivalent to cartilage +‎ -ous, with modifications made to its morphology.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑː.tɪˈlad͡ʒ.ɪn.əs/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkɑɹ.təˈlæd͡ʒ.ən.əs/

cartilaginous (comparative more cartilaginous, superlative most cartilaginous)

1. (anatomy) Comprising soft cartilage rather than bone.
   1. Related to or resembling cartilage.
   2. (zoology, of a vertebrate animal) Having a skeleton of cartilage.

      Cartilaginous fish such as the angler fish have a skeletal structure made up of cartilage.

      • 1692, John Ray, “Of Formed Stones, Sea-shells, and Other Marine-like Bodies Found at Great Distances from the Shores?”, in Miscellaneous Discourses Concerning the Dissolution and Changes of the World. […], London: […] Samuel Smith, […], →OCLC, page 109:

        [T]here are other Bodies beſides Shells found in the Earth, reſembling the Teeth and Bones of ſome Fiſhes, […] the Vertebres of Thornbacks and other Cartilagineous Fiſhes there found, and ſold for Stones among the Gloſſopetræ, […]

2. (mycology) Having a tough or fibrous texture, usually in reference to a mushroom stipe.

• cartilagenous, cartilagineous, cartiliginous

• “cartilaginous”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cartilaginous”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• David Arora (1986) Mushrooms Demystified, Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press, page 913