monitor lizard

noun

Any of various large carnivorous lizards of the family Varanidae, all of whose extant species are of genus Varanus, native to Africa, Asia and Australia.

Similar
safeguardmonitorvaran
OriginArabic وَرَن →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounmonitor lizard (plural monitor lizards)

plural monitor lizards

  1. Any of various large carnivorous lizards of the family Varanidae, all of whose extant species are of genus Varanus, native to Africa, Asia and Australia.

    Synonyms: safeguard

  2. Also: the earless monitor lizard (Lanthanotus borneensis, the sole member of the family Lanthanotidae).

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAny of various large carnivorous lizards of the family Varanidae, all of whose extant species are of genus Varanus, native to Africa, Asia and Australia.

Similar
safeguard

More synonyms by meaning

nounany of various large tropical carnivorous lizards of Africa and Asia and Australia; fabled to warn of crocodiles

Similar
monitorvaran
Broader
lizard
Also see
monitorvaran

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Arabicوَرَن
  2. Englishmonitor lizard

From the obsolete taxa Monitor and Lacerta monitor now displaced by Varanus within the single-genus family Varanidae. The word Monitor is a calque of German Warner, which is a loanword from Arabic وَرَن (waran). The conflation of the two words was encouraged by the lizards' habit of standing on their hind legs and appearing to monitor their surroundings.

More words from Arabic

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans varaan, likkewaan
  • varaanlizard of the genus Varanus
  • likkewaanlizard of the genus Varanus
Arabic وَرَل
  • وَرَل (waral)lizard of the genus Varanus
Bengali গুই সাপ, গুইসাপ
  • গুই সাপ (gui śap)lizard of the genus Varanus
  • গুইসাপ (guiśap)lizard of the genus Varanus
  • গোসাপ (gōśap)lizard of the genus Varanus
Bulgarian вара́н
  • вара́н (varán)lizard of the genus Varanus
Catalan varà
  • varàlizard of the genus Varanus
Chinese Mandarin 巨蜥
  • 巨蜥 (jùxī)lizard of the genus Varanus
Czech varan
  • varanlizard of the genus Varanus
Danish varan
  • varanlizard of the genus Varanus
Dutch varaan
  • varaanlizard of the genus Varanus
Esperanto varano
  • varanolizard of the genus Varanus
Estonian varaan
  • varaanlizard of the genus Varanus
Finnish varaani
  • varaanilizard of the genus Varanus
French varan, goanna
  • varanlizard of the genus Varanus
  • goannalizard of the genus Varanus
German Waran
  • Waranlizard of the genus Varanus
Greek βαράνος
  • βαράνος (varános)lizard of the genus Varanus
Hebrew כּוֹחַ
  • כּוֹחַ (kóaẖ)lizard of the genus Varanus
Hindi गोह, गोधा
  • गोह (goh)lizard of the genus Varanus
  • गोधा (godhā)lizard of the genus Varanus
Hungarian varánusz
  • varánuszlizard of the genus Varanus
Indonesian biawak
  • biawaklizard of the genus Varanus
Irish laghairt mhonatóra
  • laghairt mhonatóralizard of the genus Varanus
Italian varano
  • varanolizard of the genus Varanus
Japanese 大蜥蜴
  • 大蜥蜴 (ōtokage)lizard of the genus Varanus
Korean 왕도마뱀
  • 왕도마뱀 (wangdomabaem)lizard of the genus Varanus
Latvian varāns
  • varānslizard of the genus Varanus
Lithuanian varanas
  • varanaslizard of the genus Varanus
Malay biawak
  • biawaklizard of the genus Varanus
Persian بزمجه
  • بزمجه (bozmajje, bozmaje)lizard of the genus Varanus
Polish waran
  • waranlizard of the genus Varanus
Portuguese varano, lagarto-monitor
  • varanolizard of the genus Varanus
  • lagarto-monitorlizard of the genus Varanus
  • monitorlizard of the genus Varanus
Punjabi ਗੋਹ
  • ਗੋਹ (goh)lizard of the genus Varanus
Romanian varan
  • varanlizard of the genus Varanus
Russian вара́н
  • вара́н (varán)lizard of the genus Varanus
Slovak varan
  • varanlizard of the genus Varanus
Spanish varano
  • varanolizard of the genus Varanus
Swahili kenge
  • kengelizard of the genus Varanus
Swedish varan
  • varanlizard of the genus Varanus
Tagalog bayawak
  • bayawaklizard of the genus Varanus
Tamil உடும்பு
  • உடும்பு (uṭumpu)lizard of the genus Varanus
Thai เหี้ย, กิ้งก่ามอนิเตอร์
  • เหี้ย (hîia)lizard of the genus Varanus
  • กิ้งก่ามอนิเตอร์ (gîng-gàa-mɔɔ-ní-dtəə)lizard of the genus Varanus
Turkish varan
  • varanlizard of the genus Varanus
Ukrainian вара́н
  • вара́н (varán)lizard of the genus Varanus
Vietnamese kì đà
  • kì đàlizard of the genus Varanus
Cite this entry
APA

monitor lizard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monitor%20lizard

MLA

“monitor lizard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monitor%20lizard. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “monitor lizard,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/monitor%20lizard.

Source: monitor lizard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.