What Do Dinosaur Names Mean? The Stories Behind the Words
Have you ever looked at a dinosaur name and thought it was just random letters? It's not â every single one is a clue.
Scientists who discover dinosaurs get to name them, and they almost always use Latin and Greek words to do it. That means every dinosaur name is basically a mini description of the animal, frozen in an ancient language.
Tyrannosaurus rex means "tyrant lizard king." Velociraptor means "swift thief." Triceratops means "three-horned face." Once you crack a few of these roots, the meaning of dinosaur names goes from confusing to totally obvious. Let's dig in.
Click any name to hear how to say it
Tyrannosaurus
tie-RAN-oh-sore-us
Velociraptor
vel-OSS-ee-rap-tor
Triceratops
try-SERR-ah-tops
Stegosaurus
STEG-oh-SORE-us
Brachiosaurus
BRAK-ee-oh-sore-us
Ankylosaurus
an-KYE-low-sore-us
Diplodocus
DIP-low-DOCK-us
Pachycephalosaurus
pack-ee-KEF-ah-lo-sore-us
Spinosaurus
SPINE-oh-SORE-us
Allosaurus
AL-oh-saw-russ
Carnotaurus
kar-noh-TOR-us
Therizinosaurus
theh-RIZ-in-oh-SORE-us
Carcharodontosaurus
kar-KAR-oh-don-toe-SORE-us
Iguanodon
ig-WHA-noh-don
Parasaurolophus
par-ah-saw-ROL-oh-fus
What Were These Dinosaurs Actually Named After?
Most dinosaur names describe exactly what the animal looked like. Paleontologists took one look at the fossils and picked the most obvious feature â a giant horn, a thick skull dome, a massive arm bone â and named the creature after it.
Triceratops had three enormous horns jutting from its face, and its name literally says that: "three-horned face" in Greek. Ankylosaurus was covered in fused armor plates from head to tail, so scientists called it "fused lizard." Pachycephalosaurus had a skull dome up to ten inches thick, so they went with "thick-headed lizard."
Some names come from where the fossils were found. Albertosaurus was dug up in Alberta, Canada. Iguanodon was named because its teeth looked like a giant iguana's teeth. And Maiasaura got a beautiful name â "good mother lizard" â after scientists found her nests with babies still inside, proving she actually cared for her young.
The Roots That Unlock Every Name
You only need to know a handful of roots to decode almost any dinosaur name you'll ever see. Here are the biggest ones.
"Saurus" is Greek for lizard and shows up in most dinosaur names. "Rex" is Latin for king â so T. rex is literally the king of the tyrant lizards. "Raptor" means thief in Latin, which is why Velociraptor, Utahraptor, and Microraptor all earned that name with their sharp, grabbing claws. "Ceratops" means horned face in Greek, giving us Triceratops and Protoceratops. "Mega" means great or large, and "micro" means small â exactly what you'd expect.
Spend five minutes memorizing those six roots and suddenly the meaning of dinosaur names just clicks. You'll be reading brand-new dinosaur names like a paleontologist before you know it.