Etymology

walrus

wal·rus
W4A1L1R1U1S1

Today it means: A large Arctic pinniped having long tusks, tough, wrinkled skin, and four flippers, Odobenus rosmarus. Full definition →

Dutch walrus
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The story

  1. Dutch · borrowed fromwalrus
  2. English todaywalrus

Probably borrowed from Dutch walrus, a compound of wal (“whale”) and ros (“horse”). Displaced native Old English horshwæl (literally “horse-whale”). Compare similar constructions in Danish hvalros, Old Norse hrosshvalr, and German Walross.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.