Etymology

velociraptor

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Today it means: A small agile dinosaur, of the genus Velociraptor, having sickle-shaped claws. It is also thought to have had a feathered coat. Fossils have been found in Late Cretaceous deposits Mongolia and China (around 75-71 mya). Full definition →

taxonomic name Velociraptor
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The story

  1. taxonomic name · derived fromVelociraptor
  2. English todayvelociraptor

From taxonomic name Velociraptor genus name, from vēlōx (“swift”) + raptor (“thief”). The application to Deinonychus came about because Gregory S. Paul proposed that Velociraptor and Deinonychus were the same genus and this idea was taken up in the book leading to the Jurassic Park film series.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.