Rhinoceros Meaning
/ɹaɪˈnɒs.ə.ɹəs/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny large herbivorous ungulate mammal native to Africa and Asia of the family Rhinocerotidae, with thick, gray skin and one or two horns on their snouts.
nounAn ungulate mammal of the superfamily Rhinocerotoidea, including the hornless Paraceratherium.
Sentence Examples
Rhinoceros is not a dinosaur.
Three species of rhinoceros are critically endangered.
Ziri didn't know of the rhinoceros was going to charge.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The massive ____ with a horn on its nose is one of the largest land animals.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ is one of the world's most endangered large mammals, threatened by poaching for its horn.
Word Origin & History
From Latin rhīnocerōs, from Ancient Greek ῥῑνόκερως (rhīnókerōs, “nose-horned”), composed of ῥῑ́ς, ῥῑνός (rhī́s, rhīnós, “nose, of (the) nose”) + κέρας (kéras, “horn”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Herein therefore to draw up our determinations beside the several pieces of Scripture mentioning this Animal (which some may well contend to be only meant of the Rhinoceros) we are so far from denying there is any Unicorn at all, that we affirme there are many kinds thereof. In the number of Quadrapedes we will concede no less then five; that is the Indian Oxe, Indian Ass, Rhinoceros, the Oryx, and that which is more eminently termed Monoceros, or Unicornis."
— 1658, Thomas Brown, “Of Unicorns Horn”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Or Enquiries Into Very many Received Tenents And commonly Presumed Truths. The Fourth Edition, page 203:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The massive ____ with a horn on its nose is one of the largest land animals.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ is one of the world's most endangered large mammals, threatened by poaching for its horn.