rhinoceros

noun rhi·noc·er·os \ rī-ˈnäs-rəs , rə- , -ˈnä-sə- \

|Updated on: 10 Jul 2018

Definition of rhinoceros

plural rhinoceroses also rhinoceros or rhinonoceri play \rī-ˈnä-sə-ˌrī, rə-\

: any of a family (Rhinocerotidae) of large heavyset herbivorous perissodactyl mammals of Africa and Asia that have one or two upright keratinous horns on the snout and thick gray to brown skin with little hair

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Recent Examples of rhinoceros from the Web

Get our daily newsletter Extracting rhinoceros eggs is hard.

— The Economist, "IVF may bring northern white rhinos back from the brink of extinction," 4 July 2018
The team aims to replicate this success with rhinoceros stem cells.

— ben guarino, Washington Post, "‘Beautiful’ embryos created from near-extinct rhinoceros sperm," 4 July 2018
Expect to see a rhinoceros, alligator, fire-breathing swan and even some alien creatures roll down the Las Vegas Strip when the Intergalactic Art Car Festival comes to town in June.

— mary forgione, latimes.com, "Prepare for an art car invasion and festival coming to Las Vegas," 30 May 2018
For years, visitors to the Kansas City Zoo have seen only one rhinoceros on exhibit at a time, even though the animal park has had as many as four of the iconic African beasts.

— matt campbell, kansascity, "Breeding pair of rhinos, new to the Kansas City Zoo, getting along just fine," 8 June 2018
The city of Richmond, Calif. juts into the San Francisco Bay like the head of a rhinoceros looking west across the water, toward San Quentin State Prison and the tony towns north of the Golden Gate.

— adam rogers, WIRED, "Can a City Really Sue an Oil Company for Climate Change?," 25 May 2018
These animals ranged in weight from a few pounds to about 4,000 pounds, with the largest among them similar in bulk to a modern hippopotamus or rhinoceros.

— kohei tanaka, National Geographic, "How Giant Dinosaurs Sat on Their Eggs Without Crushing Them," 15 May 2018
Ingicco and his team excavated an area in Kalinga, a Philippine province on the island of Luzon, and discovered a 75 percent complete skeleton whose bones belonged to a rhinoceros species that went extinct.

— NBC News, "Discovery suggests humans lived in Philippines much earlier than believed," 3 May 2018
The matches can be surprising, like using the composition of horse milk as a guide to create something for a baby rhinoceros.

— serena solomon, New York Times, "Saving Koalas, and Other Marsupials, With Milk Almost as Good as Mom’s," 24 Feb. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rhinoceros.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Illustration of rhinoceros

Origin and Etymology of rhinoceros

Middle English rinoceros, from Anglo-French, from Latin rhinocerot-, rhinoceros, from Greek rhinokerōt-, rhinokerōs, from rhin- + keras horn — more at horn

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First Known Use: 14th century

in the meaning defined above

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Other Mammals Terms

dormouse, dugong, gibbon, grimalkin, sable, stoat, ungulate, vole

RHINOCEROS Defined for English Language Learners

rhinoceros

noun

Definition of rhinoceros for English Language Learners

: a large, heavy animal of Africa and Asia that has thick skin and either one or two large horns on its nose

RHINOCEROS Defined for Kids

rhinoceros

noun rhi·noc·er·os \ rī-ˈnä-sə-rəs \

Definition of rhinoceros for Students

plural rhinoceroses also rhinoceros

: a large plant-eating mammal of Africa and Asia with short legs, thick gray to brown skin with little hair, and one or two heavy upright horns on the snout

History for rhinoceros

The ancient Greeks were familiar with the African species of rhinoceros and called the animal in Greek monokerōs, “one-horned,” and more commonly rhinokerōs, “nose-horned.” “Nose-horned” is a more or less accurate description, because the horn does grow out of the nose, but “one-horned” is not, because both of the African species have two horns.