təˈrīəˌdē, teˈr- noun plural
Usage: capitalized
Etymology: New Latin, from Pteria, type genus (from pter- + -ia ) + -idae
: a family of bivalve mollusks (group Pectinaceae) most prominent in the Paleozoic and surviving chiefly in warm seas, including the pearl oysters, and having the right valve smaller and lower, the hinge line long and straight, the shell attached by a byssus, and the foot reduced