dinosaurとは

意味・読み方・使い方

別の表記

• deinosaur (古風な用法)
• dinosaurus

語源

New Latin dīnosaurus, from Ancient Greek δεινός (deinós, “terrible, awesome, mighty, fearfully great”) + σαῦρος (saûros, “lizard, reptile”). Coined by paleontologist Richard Owen in 1842.

発音

• (英国発音) IPA^(key): /ˈdaɪnəsɔː(ɹ)/

名詞

dinosaur (plural dinosaurs or (廃れた用法) dinosauri)

1. In scientific usage, any of the animals belonging to the clade Dinosauria, especially those that existed during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods and are now extinct. [from c. 1840]
   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 80:

     ‘Dinosaur!’ Denham exploded. ‘By the Power! A dinosaur!’

2. In non-scientific usage, any non-avian dinosaur.
3. (proscribed) Any extinct reptile, not necessarily belonging to Dinosauria, that existed between about 230 million and 65 million years ago.
   • 1912, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World‎^[1]:

     "Not a bird, my dear Roxton - not a bird." "A beast?" "No; a reptile - a dinosaur."

4. (figuratively, colloquial) A person or organisation that is very old, has very old-fashioned views, or is not willing to change and adapt.
5. (figuratively, colloquial) Anything no longer in common use or practice.

使用する際の注意点

Many animals commonly described as dinosaurs do not belong to Dinosauria, and are not true dinosaurs. These include pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. Describing these as dinosaurs is frowned upon in scientific writing but persists in the media and in everyday speech.

Conversely, not all members of Dinosauria became extinct in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Those that survived were the ancestors of modern birds, which therefore also belong to Dinosauria. However, birds are not usually described as dinosaurs, except in some popular science writing.

同意語

• (dinosaur excluding birds): nonavian dinosaur
• (person who is very old): fossil, old fart

派生語

• dinosaurian
• dinosauric
• -saur

派生した語

• → Hindi: डायनासोर (ḍāynāsor), डाइनोसर (ḍāinosar)
• → Urdu: ڈایناسور‎

Further reading

• dinosaur on Wikipedia.