# monitor lizard

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. Any of various large carnivorous lizards of the family Varanidae, all of whose extant species are of genus Varanus, native to Africa, Asia and Australia.
2. Also: the earless monitor lizard, Lanthanotus borneensis; the sole member of the family Lanthanotidae.

## Etymology
From the obsolete taxa Monitor and Lacerta monitor now displaced by Varanus within the single-genus family Varanidae. The word Monitor is a calque of German Warner, which is a loanword from Arabic وَرَن (waran). The conflation of the two words was encouraged by the lizards' habit of standing on their hind legs and appearing to monitor their surroundings.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/monitor-lizard