rhinoceros

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A large, heavy African or Asian animal with thick grey skin and one or two horns on its nose.

   We saw a rhinoceros at the wildlife reserve.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Rhinoceros entered late Middle English from Greek elements meaning “nose” and “horn”: rhino- and keras. The name directly describes the animal’s prominent nasal horn; an early English reference accordingly treated it as a kind of unicorn.

From Latin rhīnocerōs, from Ancient Greek ῥῑνόκερως (rhīnókerōs, “nose-horned”), composed of ῥῑ́ς, ῥῑνός (rhī́s, rhīnós, “nose, of (the) nose”) + κέρας (kéras, “horn”).

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External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary