Meanings
plural tuataras
- A reptile, Sphenodon punctatus, native to New Zealand, that resembles a lizard and is the only surviving specimen of the order Rhynchocephalia.
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
Synonyms & antonyms
nounonly extant member of the order Rhynchocephalia of large spiny lizard-like diapsid reptiles of coastal islands off New Zealand
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Māorituatara
- Māorituatara
- Englishtuatara
Borrowed from Māori tuatara.
More words from Māori
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Cantonese 楔齒蜥 /楔齿蜥
- 楔齒蜥 /楔齿蜥 (sit³ ci² sik¹)reptile
Chinese Mandarin 楔齒蜥 /楔齿蜥
- 楔齒蜥 /楔齿蜥 (xiēchǐxī)reptile
Dutch brughagedis
- brughagedisreptile
Finnish tuatara
- tuatarareptile
French sphénodon
- sphénodonreptile
German Brückenechse
- Brückenechsereptile
Japanese ムカシトカゲ
- ムカシトカゲ (mukashitokage)reptile
Māori tuatara
- tuatarareptile
Polish hatteria, łupkoząb
- hatteriareptile
- łupkoząbreptile
- tuatarareptile
Russian гатте́рия, туата́ра
- гатте́рия (gattɛ́rija)reptile
- туата́ра (tuatára)reptile
Spanish tuátara, tuatara
- tuátarareptile
- tuatarareptile
Swedish bryggödla, tuatara
- bryggödlareptile
- tuatarareptile
Cite this entry
tuatara. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tuatara
“tuatara.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tuatara. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tuatara,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tuatara.
Source: tuatara on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.