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ankylosaurus

an·ky·lo·saurus

UK/ˌæŋkɪləʊˈsɔərəs/ US/ˌæŋkəloʊˈsɔːɹəs/ uncommon

noun

1.

having the back covered with thick bony plates; thought to have walked with a sprawling gait resembling a lizard''s

Synonyms

Origin

From taxonomic name Ankylosaurus, from ankylo- + -saurus, from Ancient Greek ἀγκύλος (ankúlos, “crooked”) + New Latin -saurus, from Ancient Greek σαῦρος (saûros, “lizard”). The word was coined in 1908 without explanation by Barnum Brown and may refer to his mistaken belief that its back was sharply bent in a manner similar to the stegosaurus or to his attention to the fusion of his specimens' rear ribs to their vertebrae, a condition medically known as ankylosis.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.