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endling
[ end ling ]
noun
- an individual living thing that is the last survivor of its species or subspecies and whose death consequently means the extinction of that species or subspecies:
The endling of the once plentiful passenger pigeons was Martha, who died in a zoo in 1914.
- a person who is the last living member of a family line and whose death consequently means the end of that lineage:
Sadly, Kenneth, childless and himself an only child, is soon to leave this world, alone and an endling.
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Word History and Origins
Origin of endling1
First recorded in 1996 in the correspondence in the British journal Nature; end 1( def ) + -ling 1( def )
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