What Does Ursine Mean?

Etymology

• Ursine stems from Latin words for bear, ursinus and ursus. One example of this word in a sentence is "the man had a bulky, ursine body."

Biology

• In taxonomy, ursine refers to that which is characteristic of the bear family, Ursidae. There are eight species of bear in the Ursidae family, including the brown bear (Ursus arctos), polar bear (Ursus maritimus), Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus), American black bear (Ursus americanus), spectacled bear (Tremarctos ornatus), sloth bear (Melursus ursinus) , sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) and the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca).

Astronomy

• The Latin word ursus also lends itself to the name of the constellations Ursa Major, or the Great Bear, and Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. These constellations are also known as the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.