The story
- Russian · derived fromкрокоди́л“crocodile”
- English todaykrokodil
From the Russian крокоди́л (krokodíl, “crocodile”), because of its damaging effects on the skin, possibly related to the chemical name of the precursor α-chlorocodide. Doublet of crocodile.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.