Meanings
nounsphenodon (plural sphenodons)
plural sphenodons
- The tuatara.
In New Zealand the dinosaurs had perished 65 million years before, as they had elsewhere on the globe; but the sphenodons or tuataras who had been their contemporaries from Jurassic times persisted, in New Zealand but nowhere else, for reasons that remain obscure.
2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 4 - Any of the other extinct reptiles of the Sphenodontidae family.
Origin
From the genus name Sphenodon.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
sphenodon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sphenodon
MLA
“sphenodon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sphenodon. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sphenodon,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sphenodon.
Source: sphenodon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.