rhinoceros

Where does the word "rhinoceros" come from? It comes from Greek rhis, passing through Greek and Latin before entering English (1300s).

Rhinoceros’s story begins in Greek: rhis meant “nose.” Nose, combined with keras (horn) to name the horned-nosed animal. Within Greek, it grew into rhinokeros by ancient. Nose-horn, describing the animal's distinctive horn. From there it passed into Latin as rhinoceros by ancient. Carried into Latin for the large horned animal. It reached English by 1300s as rhinoceros. Settled as the English word for the thick-skinned horned mammal. Today, rhinoceros means a large, thick-skinned mammal with one or two horns on its snout.

1. Stage 1 · Greek · ancient rhis "nose", nose, combined with keras (horn) to name the horned-nosed animal.
2. Stage 2 · Greek · ancient rhinokeros "nose-horn", nose-horn, describing the animal's distinctive horn.
3. Stage 3 · Latin · ancient rhinoceros "the large horned animal", carried into Latin for the large horned animal.
4. Stage 4 · English · 1300s rhinoceros "a large thick-skinned horned mammal", settled as the English word for the thick-skinned horned mammal.