Etymology

western toad

Today it means: Anaxyrus boreas, a species of toad whose range extends from the southern coast of Alaska to the western coast of Baja California and to the edge of the Midwest. Full definition →

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The story

From western + toad. The vernacular name refers to the taxon's range relative to the rest of the New World, and is not calqued from the taxonomic name, translingual Anaxyrus boreas (literally “northern anaxyrus”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.