rhinoceros

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹaɪˈnɒs.ə.ɹəs/, /ɹaɪˈnɑ.sə.ɹəs/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rinoceros,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} borrowed from Late Latin rhīnocerōs,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek ῥινόκερως (rhinókerōs, “nose-horned”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek ῥίς (rhís, “nose”) + κέρας (kéras, “horn”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The large horned beast of Africa and southern Asia (c. 1300 in Barnhart and Etymonline; 14th century in the OED);^[3][4][7] in Middle English it was sometimes regarded as a kind of unicorn.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The Douay Bible uses rhinoceros where other versions have unicorn.^[6] The word was applied figuratively to a large, unwieldy person (1613),^[7] and the rhinoceros beetle (by the 1680s) is named for the upcurved horn of the male.^[4] The plural has been unsettled: rhinoceroses, rhinoceros and the learned rhinoceri are recorded.^[5][4]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – the animal.^[3][4]
• 1613 – a large, unwieldy person.^[7]
• 1680s – rhinoceros beetle.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Any of several large, thick-skinned, plant-eating mammals of the family Rhinocerotidae of Africa and Asia, with one or two upright horns on the snout.

Related words

• rhino
• rhinoplasty
• horn
• keratin

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press