Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

monitor lizard

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.56 in modern English

Syllables: mon-i-tor lizard
IPA

25

Scrabble Score

13

Letters

3

Syllables

10

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Any of various large carnivorous lizards of the family Varanidae, all of whose extant species are of genus Varanus, native to Africa, Asia and Australia.

noun

Also: the earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis, the sole member of the family Lanthanotidae).

Etymology

From the obsolete taxa Monitor and Lacerta monitor now displaced by Varanus within the single-genus family Varanidae. The word Monitor is a calque of German Warner, which is a loanword from Arabic وَرَن (waran). The conflation of the two words was encouraged by the lizards' habit of standing on their hind legs and appearing to monitor their surroundings.

Origin

Source language: Arabic

Word Breakdown

Root: وَرَن

Inflected Forms

monitor lizards (plural)

Phrases

earless monitor lizard Komodo dragon

Frequently Paired Words

goanna Komodo dragon

Synonyms

safeguard monitor varan

Questions

What does monitor lizard mean?: Any of various large carnivorous lizards of the family Varanidae, all of whose extant species are of genus Varanus, native to Africa, Asia and Australia.
Where does monitor lizard come from?: It is traced to Arabic.

How to pronounce monitor lizard

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