Today, the plural form seems to be a conglomeration of several root pluralizations, as both the Latin and Greek are represented, in addition to the Anglicized version, which is rhinoceroses.Īccording to Elizabeth Pyatt, a linguist for Penn State University, “What’s interesting to me here is that my preference suggests that English phonology may be driving the formation of some neo-classical plurals.” This backs up the previous point that the English has actually modulated the grammar.Ĭulture drives language, not the other way around, and so at the end of the day, what really matters is what society generally accepts or deems to be correct. Eliot’s point was that the word rhinocerotes was patently ridiculous, but the word rhinoceroses was not pleasing to the ear. The same EtymOnline article states that, “What is the plural of rhinoceros? … Well, Liddell and Scott seem to authorize ‘rhinocerotes,’ which is pedantic, but ‘rhinoceroses’ is not euphonious”, citing Sir Charles Eliot’s, “The East Africa Protectorate,” 1905. It became the source of some grammatical debate in the early twentieth century. The word was first used in the early fourteenth century to describe the animal that is still described today, although the Middle English rinoceros is still not the same as today’s spelling. According to, the word comes from the Latin rhīnocerōs, which originated from a side-translation from the Greek rhinokeros or rhinoker which is translated literally as “nose-horned”, from “rhinos” (which means nose) and “keras”, meaning “horn of an animal”. The etymology of the word rhinoceros is fairly simple. The History and Origin of the WordĪ great way to get a better understanding of what a word means is to explore its history and the languages it originated from another word for this is the word’s etymology. Here are some examples of the multiple correct plurals:Īnd then there is the slang term for rhinoceros, which is rhino, and the plural of that word is just simply “rhinos”. Multiple rhinoceros can be referred to in several ways, including “rhinoceri”. What Do You Call More Than One Rhinoceros? For now, it is sufficient to say that the word was completely borrowed from other languages, leaving it subject to that language’s grammatical rules but has also been changed somewhat over time due to English as well. The reason for this extra layer of complication is due to the word’s complicated etymology, but that will be discussed later on.
The plural form of this particular word can take three different forms that are considered grammatically valid: “rhinoceros”, “rhinoceroses”, and “rhinoceri”. The plural of rhinoceros is extremely complicated because it technically has several forms, and the dictionary is not as helpful when it comes to providing the correct answer as to which is most proper. There are multiple kinds of rhinos, including the Indian rhinoceros (the Rhinoceros unicornis), the White rhinoceros, the Sumatran rhinoceros, and the Black rhinoceros, and it is a distant relative of the hippopotamus, another extant genera. Its profile is very intimidating, but it is not an overly scary animal, as it is plant-eating rather than carniverous, despite its thick skin. The rhinoceros is a very large land mammal of the family rhinocerotidae that is almost reminiscent of ancient dinosaurs like the triceratops, although the rhino itself is an extant species.
#Spell rhinoceros skin#
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the definition of rhinoceros is “any of a family (Rhinocerotidae) of large heavyset herbivorous perissodactyl mammals of Africa and Asia.” They have one or two upright horns and thick brown or gray skin “with little hair”. When learning to use a word, one of the best places to start is to learn its definition.
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