[i-gwah-nuh] 
| 1. | a large, arboreal lizard, Iguana iguana, native to Central and South America, having stout legs and a crest of spines from neck to tail. |
| 2. | any of various related lizards of the genera Iguana, Ctenosaura, Conolophus, and Amblyrhynchus. |
| i·gua·na (ĭ-gwä'nə) n. Any of various large tropical American lizards of the family Iguanidae, often having spiny projections along the back. [Spanish, from Arawak iwana.] |
"Foure footed beastes ... named Iuannas, muche lyke vnto Crocodiles, of eyght foote length, of moste pleasaunte taste." [Richard Eden, "Decades of the New World," 1555]Dinosaur name Iguanodon is 1830, from iguana + stem of Gk. odonys "tooth," on model of mastodon; so called because the fossil teeth and bones were thought to resemble those of the lizard.
