different between reptile vs saurian

English

Etymology

From Middle English reptil, from Old French reptile, from Late Latin r?ptile, neuter of reptilis (“creeping”), from Latin r?p? (“to creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *rep- (“to creep, slink”) (Pokorny; Watkins, 1969).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??p?ta?l/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???p.ta?l/
• Rhymes: -a?l

Noun

reptile (plural reptiles)

1. A cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia; an amniote that is neither a synapsid nor a bird.
2. (figuratively) A mean or grovelling person.

   • This work may, indeed, be considered as a great creation of our own; and for a little reptile of a critic to presume to find fault with any of its parts, without knowing the manner in which the whole is connected, and before he comes to the final catastrophe, is a most presumptuous absurdity.

   • "That reptile," whispered Pott, catching Mr. Pickwick by the arm, and pointing towards the stranger. "That reptile — Slurk, of the Independent!"

   • 1847, Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, chapter XXVII:

     {...} If I pitied you for crying and looking so very frightened, you should spurn such pity. Ellen, tell him how disgraceful this conduct is. Rise, and don’t degrade yourself into an abject reptile—don’t!’

Hyponyms

• See also Thesaurus:reptile

Related terms

• mammal-like reptile
• Reptilia
• reptilian
• reptilianness
• reptiliology
• reptiliologist

Translations

Adjective

reptile (not comparable)

1. Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs.
2. Grovelling; low; vulgar.

   a reptile race or crew; reptile vices

   • 1796, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace

     There is also a false, reptile prudence, the result not of caution, but of fear.

   • 1797-1816, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel

     And dislodge their reptile souls / From the bodies and forms of men.

Synonyms

• (creeping, crawling): reptilious, creeping, crawling; reptitious (obsolete)
• (contemptible): See Thesaurus:despicable

See also

• herpetology
• Category:en:Reptiles for a list of reptiles in English
• reptile on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Peltier, peitrel, perlite

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin r?ptilis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??p.til/

Noun

reptile m (plural reptiles)

1. reptile

Derived terms

• reptilien

Further reading

• “reptile” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Adjective

r?ptile

1. neuter nominative singular of r?ptilis
2. neuter accusative singular of r?ptilis
3. neuter vocative singular of r?ptilis

English

Etymology

From Sauria (“suborder of lizards”) +? -an (“forming adjectives”), under influence from earlier French saurien

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?s???i?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?s??i?n/

Noun

saurian (plural saurians)

1. (properly) A reptile of the suborder Sauria.
2. (popularly, especially science fiction) Any large reptilian animal, including crocodiles and reptilian aliens.
   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, Chapter vi:

     After dinner we all went on deck and watched the unfamiliar scenes of a Capronian night--that is, all but von Schoenvorts. There was less to see than to hear. From the great inland lake behind us came the hissing and the screaming of countless saurians. Above us we heard the flap of giant wings, while from the shore rose the multitudinous voices of a tropical jungle--of a warm, damp atmosphere such as must have enveloped the entire earth during the Palezoic and Mesozoic eras.

   • 1986, Kevin Eastman & al., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Vol. I, No. 6, page 15:

     Good evening, fellow saurians, and welcome once again to the Tri-Sports Arena! I'm your host, Raz Charkov...

3. (figuratively) A lizardlike person.
   • 1974, Vladimir Nabokov, Look at the Harlequins!, p. 130:

     He was one of the very few larger saurians in the émigré marshes.

Translations

Adjective

saurian (comparative more saurian, superlative most saurian)

1. (zoology) Of or related to the members of the suborder Sauria.
2. (figuratively) Synonym of lizardlike or reptilian.

References

• “Sauria, n.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1910
• “saurian, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1910

Anagrams

• anurias, uranias

Romanian

Etymology

From French saurien

Noun

saurian m (plural saurieni)

1. saurian

Declension