flatback
noun
flatback is a noun meaning “A chelonid turtle, Natator depressus, with low-domed carapace, endemic to the continental shelf of Australia” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled F-L-A-T-B-A-C-K, and it appears about once in every 29 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of flatback is flatbacks.
What does flatback mean?
noun
- 1
A chelonid turtle, Natator depressus, with low-domed carapace, endemic to the continental shelf of Australia.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of flatback
- flatbacks plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is flatback?
Flatback appears about once in every 29 million words in written English, the 163,711th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Flatback in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Natator depressus:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | tortue à dos plat |
| German | Australische Suppenschildkröte, Wallriffschildkröte |
| Portuguese | tartaruga-marinha-australiana |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does flatback come from?
From flat + back.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).