Etymology

sleeper shark

Today it means: Any shark of the family Somniosidae. Full definition →

translingual Somniosus
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The story

  1. translingual · calque ofSomniosus
  2. English todaysleeper shark

Calque of translingual Somniosus (literally “sleepy”). From sleeper + shark, referring to their slow, lethargic habits.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.