empennage

em·pen·nage  (mp-nj)

n.

The tail assembly of an aircraft, including the horizontal and vertical stabilizers, elevators, and rudder.

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[French, feathers on an arrow, empennage, from empenner, to feather an arrow : en-, in; see en-¹ + penne, feather (from Latin penna; see pet- in Indo-European roots).]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

empennage - the rear part of an aircraft tail assembly, tail fuselage - the central body of an airplane that is designed to accommodate the crew and passengers (or cargo) horizontal tail - the horizontal stabilizer and elevator in the tail assembly of an aircraft back, rear - the side that goes last or is not normally seen; "he wrote the date on the back of the photograph" stabilizer - airfoil consisting of a device for stabilizing an aircraft vertical tail - the vertical airfoil in the tail assembly of an aircraft