Meanings
plural pterosaurs · alternative pterosaurus
- Any flying reptile, of the extinct order †Pterosauria, including the pterodactyls.First known use c. 1860
Batsquatch, pterosaurs and the River Man. She had three weeks in Washington State tracking down the local legends. There was nothing ordinary about her job as the biologist on the television show Cryptid or Hoax?
2020, Shona Husk, Close to the Truth, HarperCollins Australia, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
nounan extinct reptile of the Jurassic and Cretaceous having a bird-like beak and membranous wings supported by the very long fourth digit of each forelimb
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Ancient Greekπτερόν“feather, wing”
- Englishpterosaur
From ptero- + -saur, literally “wing lizard”, from Ancient Greek πτερόν (pterón, “feather, wing”) and σαῦρος (saûros, “lizard, reptile”).
More words from Ancient Greek
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Catalan pterosaure
- pterosaureextinct flying reptile
Chinese Cantonese 翼龍 /翼龙
- 翼龍 /翼龙extinct flying reptile
Chinese Mandarin 翼龍 /翼龙
- 翼龍 /翼龙 (yìlóng)extinct flying reptile
Czech ptakoještěr
- ptakoještěrextinct flying reptile
Finnish pterosaurus, siipisaurus
- pterosaurusextinct flying reptile
- siipisaurusextinct flying reptile
- lentoliskoextinct flying reptile
French ptérosaure
- ptérosaureextinct flying reptile
German Flugsaurier, Pterosaurier
- Flugsaurierextinct flying reptile
- Pterosaurierextinct flying reptile
- Pterosaurusextinct flying reptile
Greek πτερόσαυρος
- πτερόσαυρος (pterósavros)extinct flying reptile
Italian pterosauro
- pterosauroextinct flying reptile
Japanese 翼竜
- 翼竜 (yokuryū)extinct flying reptile
Korean 익룡
- 익룡 (ingnyong)extinct flying reptile
Polish pterozaur, jaszczur latający
- pterozaurextinct flying reptile
- jaszczur latającyextinct flying reptile
Portuguese pterossauro
- pterossauroextinct flying reptile
Romanian pterozaur
- pterozaurextinct flying reptile
Russian птероза́вр
- птероза́вр (pterozávr)extinct flying reptile
Slovak vtákojašter
- vtákojašterextinct flying reptile
Spanish pterosaurio
- pterosaurioextinct flying reptile
Swedish flygödla, pterosaurie
- flygödlaextinct flying reptile
- pterosaurieextinct flying reptile
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
pterosaur. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pterosaur
“pterosaur.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pterosaur. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pterosaur,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pterosaur.
Source: pterosaur on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.