ankylosaurus
/ˌæŋkəloʊˈsɔːɹəs/noun
ankylosaurus is a noun meaning “Ankylosaurus magniventris, a large herbivorous dinosaur of the Cretaceous period notable for its heavy armor and clublike tail” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled A-N-K-Y-L-O-S-A-U-R-U-S, and it appears about once in every 44 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of ankylosaurus is ankylosauri or ankylosauruses.
What does ankylosaurus mean?
noun
- 1
Ankylosaurus magniventris, a large herbivorous dinosaur of the Cretaceous period notable for its heavy armor and clublike tail.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce ankylosaurus?
- US /ˌæŋkəloʊˈsɔːɹəs/
- US /ˌæŋkɪloʊˈsɔːɹəs/
- UK /ˌæŋkɪləʊˈsɔərəs/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Forms of ankylosaurus
- ankylosauri plural
- ankylosauruses plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is ankylosaurus?
Ankylosaurus appears about once in every 44 million words in written English, the 204,233rd 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).
Ankylosaurus in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense A. magniventris, a large armored dinosaur of the Cretaceous period:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | ankylosaure |
| German | Ankylosaurus |
| Portuguese | anquilossauro |
| Spanish | anquilosaurio |
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 ankylosaurus come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).