dinosaur | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

12 entries found.

one of the Dinosauria, a class of extinct Mesozoic reptiles often of enormous size, 1841, coined in Modern Latin by Sir Richard Owen, from Greek deinos "terrible" (see dire) + sauros "lizard" (see -saurus). Figurative sense of "person or institution not adapting to change" is from 1952. Related: Dinosaurian.

ceratosaurus (n.)

meat-eating dinosaur of the Jurassic period, 1884, from cerato- "horn" + -saurus. So called for the small horn on its nose.

ankylosaurus (n.)

Cretaceous armored dinosaur, 1907, Modern Latin, from Greek ankylos "bent, curved" (see angle (n.)) + -saurus. Said to be a reference to the curved ribs.

-saurus

element used in forming dinosaur names, from Latinized form of Greek sauros "lizard," a word of unknown origin; possibly related to saulos "twisting, wavering."

triceratops (n.)

dinosaur genus, 1890, from Greek trikeratos "three-horned" + ōps "face," etymologically "eye," from PIE root *okw- "to see." The first element is from tri- "three" (see three) + keras (genitive keratos) "horn of an animal," from PIE root *ker- (1) "horn; head."

lacertine (adj.)

"lizard-like," 1841, from Latin lacerta (see lizard). Other adjectives from the early years of dinosaur paleontology were lacertian (1841), lacertilian (1848). In decorative arts, lacertine work (1854) consists of intertwined serpents.

iguanodon (n.)

dinosaur name, 1825, hybrid from iguana + Latinized stem of Greek odonys "tooth" (on model of mastodon). So called because the fossil teeth and bones were thought to resemble (except in size) those of the tropical lizard.

ornithopod (n.)

1933, short for ornithopod dinosaur (1888), from Modern Latin Ornithopoda (1881), the suborder of dinosaurs whose hind legs are like those of birds, from ornitho- "bird" + Greek podos, genitive of pous "foot" (from PIE root *ped- "foot").

stegosaurus (n.)

type of plant-eating dinosaur, 1892, from Modern Latin order name Stegosauria (O.C. Marsh, 1877), from Greek stegos "a roof" (related to stege "covering," stegein "to cover," from PIE root *(s)teg- "to cover" + -saurus. The back-armor plates in the fossilized remains look like roof tiles.

tyrannosaurus (n.)

carnivorous Cretaceous bipedal dinosaur, 1905, Modern Latin genus name, coined by H.F. Osborn (published 1906 in "Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History" XXI, p.259) from Greek tyrannos "tyrant" (see tyrant) + -saurus. Abbreviated name T. rex attested by 1970 (apparently first as the band name).

Trending words